Page 117 of The Husband Contract
“To process everything?” she asks, scrunching her nose as if she can’t make sense of what he’s saying. “What do you mean?”
He frowns. “I don’t like to admit this, but… well, I am another victim.”
“Another victim of what?” Willow looks confused, but immediately my brain is ticking. Louisa mentioned that she and Charlotte had done this once before. Surely it wasn’t with Clark Kent, right?
I stare at him for a few moments. “Do you know Louisa and Charlotte?” He grunts and that’s all I need to hear. My stomach drops. The betrayal goes deep. I look over at Willow, who still hasn’t figured out what’s going on. Though her eyebrows are furrowed and she looks like she’s slowly figuring it out.
“Your cousin, didn’t she tell you she won the lottery twice?”
“Yeah,” she says. “I mean, obviously she didn’t win the lottery, which I’m a dumbass for believing her in the first place, because I knew she didn’t play.”
“Think about it, Willow. Think about this really hard. The second time she won the lottery must have been when she got the money from Sergio.”
“Yeah, okay. And?” She frowns.
“Well, think about the first time.”
“What first time?”
“The first time she won the lottery,” I say patiently.
“But she didn’t win the lottery.” She glares at me and her eyes widen. She’s making the connection.
“Exactly. So that means there was another man. She met another man. She took advantage of—” Dawning hits Willow’s eyes, and her jaw drops. She looks over at Benjamin.
“Wait, were you in a relationship with—no. Were you in a relationship with my cousin?”
He presses his lips together, his face turning crimson. “She took me for two million dollars. She didn’t even do my laundry. What is up with you women these days?”
A slight giggle escapes Willow’s mouth and she rolls her eyes.
“How did you meet them?” I ask.
“I met Louisa first,” he says. “She’s a cute brunette. I prefer blondes, but—” He abruptly stops speaking about his preference in women and shrugs. “She told me that if I was interested in having some fun, she had a friend who would be willing to join. A friend by the name of Willow,” he says, looking over atmyWillow. “Well, I thought to myself, why not? I’m single, free, disengaged, and was looking to have some fun. So, I met up with them, and for a month it wasthe best time of my life.” He runs his fingers through his hair. “Hottest kinky sex I’ve ever had.” He smirks at Willow. “But you can still change that if you want to.”
Willow starts coughing, and I can feel myself growing angry.
“Hey dude, show some respect.”
“I’m trying,” he grumbles. “Anyway, they said they had a business opportunity for me, which I then told them I wasn’t really interested in doing business with them. But anyway, one thing led to another. They got a couple million, and then they disappeared. I have an investigator, of course, because no one steals my money and gets away with it.” He looks upset as he rakes his fingers through his thinning hair and curses under his breath. “Anyway, the investigator tracked Willow down to the Whispering Haven Bed and Breakfast, and wouldn’t you know it? She was on a dating site, and I saw the pictures on the dating site, and of course she looked different, but I figured it was just another scam.” He shakes his head. “I spoke to you for two months waiting for you to meet me so I could see if you were the same Willow who stole from me—but you weren’t.”
“Is that why you told me your name was Clark Kent?” she says slowly, rubbing her forehead. “Is that why you didn’t want me to know who you really were?”
“It was,” he says. “I figured if you knew my real name, you’d stop talking to me because you’d know I didn’t want anything but my money back. But then I met you, and well it wasn’t you.”
“Couldn’t you tell that from our conversations?”
He shrugs. “What do I know? Anyway, I figured you’re cute, blonde, bigger ass than I normally go for, but hey, maybe you were my prize for being taken.”
“Your prize?” Her jaw drops.
“Well, your cousin, who I now know is Charlotte, tookmy money, and I figured, what better way to get my revenge than to get her cousin.”
“But I have nothing to do with this.” I tense up as argue go back and forth. I want to punch the man in the face, but I hold myself back. I don’t need anymore drama at this point.
“I don’t know that you didn’t. All I have is your word and that doesn’t mean much to me, but hey, what does it matter? My investigator came back to me and told me that Charlotte and Louisa were selling a bunch of shares in another Fortune 500 company that had two very rich board members, and we figured maybe she’d done it again. So, I looked up the names of the board members—Sergio Laurence and Sebastian Laurence—and I figured if there was another scam going on this time, I wanted a part of it. But I guess I’m too late.”
Willow remains frozen, mouth parted in complete shock. She’s flabbergasted. However, all I am is angry.
