Page 99 of Rebellious Hearts
It just hadn’t been to death. It had been to heartlessness, to a game.
Because Sofia had never loved me, had she?
I was the one who’d started this whole charade, but she was the one who’d played her part so well that even I had fallen for it. She was the one who, after it all, had won the game, leaving the rest of the players in the dust.
A short while after three, I headed down to the lobby. It would be almost an hour until Richard arrived, but I was getting sick of sitting in my room, alone with my thoughts. The best way was to take care of business.
I walked into the dining room, sat down, and opened my laptop.
Work was my savior.
I could throw myself into it whenever I wanted to shut out the rest of the world, and the results were always two-fold—I worked my way upward and forward in the company, and I didn’t have to think about whatever was happening around me.
“Ben,” someone said, slicing into the hyper-focus mode I was in. I looked up, and Sofia stood at my table. She clutched her hands together in front of her, and strands had escaped from her ponytail so that she had a cute, disheveled look. Her eyes were filled with uncertainty.
“Can’t we talk about this?” she asked.
I pursed my lips. “What’s there to talk about?”
“I don’t want to leave things the way they are. I don’t know why you’re so angry, but if we could just—”
“There’s nowe,” I said tightly, cutting her off.
“Ben, please. After everything that happened between us, you want to tell me that there’s nothing?”
“Why don’t you tell me?” I challenged her. “Why don’t you tell me how this was just a game, how it was all pretend, and the last thing you want is to play happy families with me?”
Her face paled. “Did you overhear us?”
“I heard every word.”
She sank into a chair opposite me, and I wanted her to leave. What I hated more about her sitting here when I needed her to leave was the fact that even though I was furious with her, she looked incredible, and even though I wanted her to get the fuck out of my life, I wanted to pull her into my arms and wipe that vulnerable look off her face, protect her.
“I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “I don’t know how—”
“Costa Rica, huh?” I cut her off again, focusing on my screen.
When I glanced at her, her face paled.
“When were you going to tell me about that?”
“I haven’t even gone for the interview,” she countered.
“I thought you were happy here.” ByhereI wasn’t sure if I meant at Blackwood Inc. or with me.
“I am,” she said. “I just—”
“If leaving is what you want, then that’s what you should do.”
“Ben, now that I’m pregnant—”
“I’m not going to force you to stay.”
“You keep cutting me off—”
“Because there’s no need for you to elaborate. Like you said, this whole thing was pretend. I shouldn’t have lied to Richard, but you followed along and played your part, and you’re absolved of your duties. You can go now, do whatever the fuck you like.”
“Ben…”
