Page 208 of The Re-Proposal

I nod and climb out of his lap, feeling dismissed.

Hurt clips the edge of my heart, but I tell myself I’m overthinking it. Cody spent an immeasurable amount of time claiming me on that desk and, later, against the windows as if to show me off to the stars.

He’s probably worth about a million dollars an hour.

Of course he has other matters to tend to.

But that doesn’t stop the irritation from growing. I stare at his clenching jaw. Why is he pushing me off?

I get that I’m the one who started this, but he definitely finished it. He came at me like a man starved. He muttered the sweetest words in my ear as he did the filthiest things to my body.

How can he just… switch off like that?

I reach for my clothes and tug them on. My phone is in my purse. Feeling petty, I turn it on just because he told me not to.

I’ve got over a thousand notifications.

Some are from mom.

Others are from Cody.

A few are from Ms. Phoebe, Laura, Island and the farmhouse ladies.

Why is everyone trying to reach me?

Curious, I tap on mom’s message.

Mom: I told you not to trust him.

There’s a link to an article.

I click on it.

My fingers go numb.

CODY BOLTON DENIES RELATIONSHIP WITH CHARITY WORKER. SAYS SHE’S ‘JUST A COLLEAGUE’.

Am I dreaming right now?

But no.

It’s right there in black and white.

The words are so startling, so ridiculously cruel, that I think it’s a joke at first.

But then I read the article.

If I had any hope that this was a lie, the evidence is there for me in crisp definition. There’s a video of Cody in a red sofa, wearing the same outfit. White shirt. Black trousers.

Tall. Rich. Elegant.

“I admire her generosity,”Cody says and the captions emphasize the coldness, the lack of feeling,“but I have no romantic interest in Ms. Maura.”

I expect a quick jab of agony. A gut punch of betrayal. Instead, the pain is slow-moving, like a worm crawling over a bed of nails—each painful slug impaling it deeper and deeper on the sharp edges.

Tears fill my eyes and I squeeze the phone tighter as I scroll down to the comments.

I knew she was a gold digger.

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