Page 36 of Billionaire Unreachable: Wyatt

I nodded, hating the hell that she’d been through simply because she’d married the wrong man.

In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t just the fact that he hit her that was so fucking wrong.

The prolonged verbal abuse and manipulation was probably even worse for her psyche than getting hit as he was being taken away in handcuffs. Getting through the trial had probably been brutal, too.

How in the fucking hell had she gotten through all that and still managed to maintained such a positive attitude? I had no idea why she wanted to do anything nice for anyone after that nightmare.

“What happened once he was arrested?” I asked succinctly, still wanting to kill the asshole who had broken the trust of a woman like Shelby.

“I had to testify and provide as much information as I could to get him convicted,” she replied. “Iwantedto help the authorities. I soldShelby’sand gave up the proceeds in the settlement. I gave up everything Justin and I had. All I wanted was enough to live until I could get a job. I felt so horrible that he’d scammed money out of people who had worked their asses off to secure their futures. The gossip about the whole situation was rampant during the trial and after it was over. I came to San Diego to try to start all over again once everything was wrapped up in Montana. I couldn’t live there anymore.”

Fuck!She’d obviously come to San Diego almost destitute because she’d given all of her money to try to pay victims back. She could have tried to negotiate more since the marriage was short and she wasn’t involved. She could have kept her restaurant, too, because it was how she made her living, but she…hadn’t.

She’d also been friendless here, which I tried not to think about because I’d refused the opportunity to become someone she could trust after everything she’d been through.

Okay, so maybe Ihadn’twanted a blind date, but as she’d already told me, what she’d really wanted and needed was a friend.

I would have been better than nothing, and had I known what she’d been through, I sure as hell wouldn’t have refused.

I was an asshole, but maybe notthatbig of an asshole.

Of course, it would have helped if Kaleb had given me more information about Shelby, but I understood why he hadn’t. “I’m sure Kaleb would have helped you financially—”

“No!” Shelby interrupted fiercely. “Yes, all of my cousins would have stepped in to help me without a second thought. They didn’t know that I lost everything. I didn’t share the financials of the case with anyone. You can’t tell them, Wyatt. It was my mistake, my problems to deal with on my own. It was bad enough that people gossiped about my whole family, and they supported me emotionally, which helped me get through that nightmare.”

I very much doubted that Kaleb wasn’t somewhat aware of just how much Shelby had lost. He was a brilliant guy. He would have made it his business to know. However, there wasn’t much the Remington brothers could do if Shelby refused their assistance.

Christ!She was stubborn, but there was part of me that admired the way she’d pulled this off on her own. She’d fought her way back, and had managed to support herself in an expensive city by being creative. Her tenacity was praiseworthy, but I couldn’t shake my displeasure about the fact that she’d been alone with no one to talk to, and no one to help her, during what was probably the worst period of her life.

I felt like I’d been sucker punched in the solar plexus when I saw tears leaking from Shelby’s beautiful emerald eyes. The breath left my body because I knew she was in pain, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do or say that would really help her.

We didn’t know each other that well, and judging by the way she’d quickly swiped away her tears, she didn’t want anything she might consider pity or sympathy.

Between the break-in and the retelling of a very painful period in her life, she looked wiped out, but I wasn’t quite done with my questions.

I figured I might as well get it all over with because I really didn’t want to see her cry again.

“Are there any other pissed off boyfriends or previous husbands in your past?” I asked drily.

She snorted. “No, thank God! Justin was my big mistake, and I have no desire to repeat it. I’m perfectly content without a man who would undermine my self-confidence and make me feel like I was nothing.”

“You’re not nothing, and it wasn’t your fault, Shelby,” I rasped. “You can’t beat yourself up for trusting someone who wasn’t worthy of that trust. Most of us have done it at least once in our life.”

She shot me a dubious glance. “I doubt it’s ever happened to you.”

She was wrong.

“I did. Once,” I admitted reluctantly. “But this isn’t about me. Right now, we need to figure out who broke into your apartment.”

I had no idea why I’d confessed to being duped myself. Maybe because I could still see the pain in Shelby’s eyes, and I didn’t want her to think she was the only intelligent person in the world who had gotten conned.

“There is no one else who hates me that much,” Shelby said soberly. “And like Kaleb, I think Justin is an unlikely suspect.”

I shrugged. I’d have Marshall investigate the possibility. I had no doubt that he had the connections to investigate the lead, even in a federal prison. “Then we’ll have to wait and see what my friend, Marshall, and the police can find out. In the meantime, you’re staying with me until we figure this out. I promised Kaleb that I’d protect you, and I will.”

She lifted her brows. “Don’t you think that’s a little bossy and presumptuous?”

“No,” I stated rigidly.

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