Page 70 of Suddenly Desired
“I wouldn’t stay in this pigsty if you paid me,” Michelle muttered as she walked through the door.
Blake turned to her, positioning his body in a way that made her take a step back in frightened surprise. “Michelle,” he said, his voice low and threatening, “the way I see it, you guys have spent the morning chasing your tails all over the English Riviera, looking for me. Why? Because you need me. If I don’t sign these papers now, you’re facing a legal battle that could sink this company for good. So listen to me, and listen well. You can say what you want about me, but I swear if you say one more thing about this gracious woman, or her house, or her beautiful, kind daughter, then I will take those papers and stuff them into the goat shed and I will see you all in court. How does that sound?”
Michelle’s mouth fell open like a puppet with snapped strings and she looked away.
“That’s an apology, right?” he said.
“Sure,” she mumbled, turning to Isla. “I’m sorry.”
“Enough of this,” growled David. “I’m bored. Get me a table, and let’s finish this thing.”
He shoved past Blake and walked to the kitchen table, pushing Ellie’s laptop and notepads out of the way. He opened the envelope and pulled out a sheaf of papers, all covered insmall legal type. Post-its pointed to at least seven places where Blake would have to sign.
Slapping it down on the table, he grinned at Blake.
“It’s all yours,” he said, pulling a pen from his breast pocket and holding it out. “Maurice left you a handsome severance package, enough to get by on for the rest of your life, really, if you behave. Any last words?”
“You’re disgusting,” said Ellie. “What you’ve done to Blake, you should be arrested for it.”
“Oh, get over yourselves,” said David. “Welcome to the world of business, sweetheart. I’d try to explain it to you, but it would go right over that pretty little head of yours. Blake was played, plain and simple. All these years people thought he was a genius and yet all it took to take him down were a handful of badly written fake posts.”
“Hey,” said Michelle, walking to his side. “They weren’t badly written, they were carefully constructed. I knew people wouldn’t believe it unless it really sounded like him, so I made it really sound like him.”
She laughed, and David put a hand on the back of her head, pulling her close and kissing her. Michelle looked at Blake out of the corner of her eye and Blake recoiled. How had he ever found himself attracted to her? She was grotesque, and she was evil.
“But he’s innocent,” Ellie said. “You framed him.”
“He was asking for it.” Michelle broke free of David. “He’s a loser. He was more interested in creating a wholesome, positive social network than he was in making money. And everybody knows money makes the world go round.”
“I made you millions,” said Blake, through gritted teeth.
“It’s not enough,” Michelle replied. “It’s never enough.”
“I can’t believe I ever thought there was good in you,” said Blake, and she laughed again.
“But that’s you all over, isn’t it? Blake the good man. Blake the kind man. That’s why this is all so beautiful. You’re the most decent person I know. You’ve never said anything offensive about women in your whole life. You respect women, you respect everyone. And now everyone thinks you’re a monster.”
“And the beauty is, you admitted to it,” said David, laughing. “Yesterday at the press conference. I mean, we were expecting some kind of fight and we were prepared for it, but in the end you just rolled over. You seriously couldn’t have fallen into this trap harder.”
“But why?” Blake said, his heart aching as he turned to his old friend. “I loved you, David. You were my best friend.”
David’s expression wobbled for a moment, then Michelle took his arm and clutched it tight. David seemed to steel himself. “No room in this world for nice guys,” he said. “Just look at us, Blake. I’ve got it all, and you’ve got nothing.”
At this, Blake smiled again. And to his surprise it was a genuine smile. He looked at Ellie and he felt nothing but happiness and relief. She was all he wanted. She was all he would ever want, even when they were old and grey.
“You know what? You two deserve each other.” He turned to Ellie. “I have everything I will ever need right here. All these years I thought I was happy, but it was only when I met you that I understood what happiness even was. They’ve taken my company from me, they’ve taken my credibility from me, but they’ve left me with something money can’t buy. You.”
Michelle pretended to throw up. “Well, don’t think your little flower here is going to save you. Because we’re taking everything of hers as well.”
“What?” said Ellie.
“LifeWrite,” said Michelle. “It’s a great idea, and it’s ours.”
“What?” Ellie said again, louder this time. She looked at Josh, who was skulking in the corner of the room. He walked to David and Michelle, dwarfed by both of them.
“That’s right,” Josh said. “Did you think I wouldn’t strike back after what you said the other day? Do you really think I’d let you treat me that way? You wrote LifeWrite when you were with me, and I kept copies of all the code. I even helped you create it.”
“That’s a lie,” Ellie said. “All you did was criticise and complain.”
