Page 62 of Beginnings By the Sea

Miles: I know you can’t call because that cocksucker is blocking you.

Miles: Please don’t listen to anything he’s telling you.

Miles: I hope this gets to you before it’s too late.

Miles: I was set up and I have proof. The pictures of me and Candace are not what it seems. Cohen paid her to come onto me.

Miles: Cohen bought out Freddy’s so that he could get close to you. He knew you were in Oak Island.

Miles: He tried sabotaging our relationship a long time ago too.

Miles: HE’S ALWAYS KNOWN WHO YOU WERE.

Miles: Just know I love you and I hope you trust me.

My stomach clenched into a tight knot as if a rock had plummeted inside of me, and when I read those fateful words: He’s always known who you were, it felt as if the blood had drained from my face.

When I met Cohen, he knew I was Miles’s ex-wife.

He knew everything about me.

Bile rose up my throat, and I knew I had to get out of the car. My knuckles whitened as I leaned forward in my seat and clenched my hand around the door handle. We were just around the corner from my house, but I couldn’t risk Cohen showing up there with Miles around; it would be a disaster.

“Pull over!” I shouted.

The second Cohen stopped the car, I yanked open the door and stumbled out, nearly dropping my purse on the asphalt.

“Nyla, what’s wrong?” Cohen asked, his voice laced with confusion.

Just hearing him speak made me clench my teeth until they ached.

“Everything!” I seethed, throwing my arms wide and spinning around to face him. “You are such a liar!”

His brows furrowed. “About what?”

The audacity to play dumb just astounded me. Did he really think I wouldn’t find out?

“You knew who I was before you even came to Oak Island,” I spat out. “Freddy’s was just an excuse for you to come here and make your move on me.”

He opened his mouth as if to deny it, but when our eyes met, I could finally see the truth written all over his face. Everything seemed to click into place at that moment, spilling through me like liquid fire.

Cohen walked around the side of his car, leaning against it casually as if he was posing for a photo shoot. “If you want the truth, I’ll give it to you,” he said coolly. “I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to get close to you. Many years ago, I saw you at one of our family reunions. You were standing alone, and I was going to speak to you, but then Miles came to your side.”

I held up my phone. “Miles texted me. You paid that Candace woman to come onto him. And you tried to ruin our marriage years ago, too. Don’t even try to deny it.”

Cohen held up his hands in defeat. “Fine, I don’t deny it. Yes, I tried breaking you two up once before. It didn’t work. I got lucky when you two destroyed it yourselves. I tried finding ways to get into your life when I found out.”

It had all been a game from the beginning, dating back all those years ago. I had only been to one of Miles’s family reunions where his entire family was in attendance, and that was eight years ago.

The thought of Cohen devising a plan for that long didn’t seem real.

I rubbed a hand over my aching chest; the deception ran deep.

“Was this all a game to you?” I asked, trying to control my anger. “Did you only want me so you could torture Miles?”

Cohen averted his gaze briefly to the ground, then lifted it to mine. “Yes and no.” He pushed off his car and stepped toward me. “I wanted you the second I saw you, Nyla. Knowing it would hurt Miles made it even better when I pursued you. But then I got to know you and I fell hard. My plan backfired on me.”

He tried to move closer, but I held up a hand, halting him. Pain flashed across his face, but I didn’t know if it was genuine or not. All he’d mostly done was lie to me.

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