The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,15
one and opened it, going over all the data she’d compiled for me. When I felt her stare on my face, I lifted my chin and looked at her. “Anything else, Renee?”
She beamed brighter than the sun.
“What?”
“You’ve been happy all week. Really happy.”
I closed the folder and tossed it on the desk. “When people look happy, it usually means they are happy.” I wasn’t just happy that I was getting laid, but that Carson had completely opened up to me, had completely given me her trust.
“But you’re consistently happy. Every day, you’ve got that smile on your face, and it never drops. It’s really nice.”
“Well, I’m sure you figured out the reason for my happiness.”
“Yeah.”
I grabbed my folder again and flipped through the pages. When Renee didn’t walk away, I turned back to her. “Yes?”
This time, she looked different, definitely a lot more somber. “Rose is coming in tomorrow…”
We didn’t deal with each other most of the time. She had an assistant who helped her with whatever she needed, but sometimes an interaction was unavoidable. “Whatever.”
“I just hate how she walks in here like she owns the place.”
“Well, she does own half the place.” Because of my stupidity. Because I’d let her manipulate me like a goddamn idiot.
“There’s got to be something we can do, some kind of loophole.”
I shook my head. “Renee, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, spent a lot of money for the best lawyers to think about this. If there were a way, I would’ve found it. Until she allows us to buy her out, we’re stuck with her.”
She released a heavy sigh, like the weight of the situation was just as much of a burden on her shoulders as it was on mine. “I told William if we get married, I need a prenup. Nothing personal. He understood.”
“He seems like a guy who would.”
“Who knew marriage was the most dangerous thing to a wealthy person?”
It really was, at least in a fifty-fifty community property state. “Can be. But if done right, I’m sure it’s the happiest thing in the world. Don’t let my mistake ruin the good things in your future, Renee.”
She continued to stand over my desk and look at me. “Would you ever think about getting married again?”
If she’d asked me this before Carson, my answer would’ve been definitive.
Hell fucking no.
But now that we were officially together, both of our guards down, my answer had changed. “Yes.”
She nodded slowly. “Good.”
“It would be different with Carson.” There was no doubt in my mind that she wanted me for me, not for any other reason. She seemed indifferent to my wealth, seemed to brush over the nice things I could offer her. Her brain simply wasn’t wired that way, to focus on monetary gains instead of accomplishments. She wanted to change the world—not to be rich. She was a special kind of person. The idea of spending my life with somebody like her didn’t seem so scary.
“Yeah, I think it would be too.”
5
Dax
After I left the office, I joined the guys at the bar. The game was on, so we got together in an oversize booth to watch the screen.
Matt and Jeremy were already there, sitting close together, talking about the pads under the players’ uniforms.
Nathan and Charlie walked in together at the same time.
After they each got a beer from the bar, they joined us. We made small talk about the game, threw out some wagers, and then enjoyed our beers and waited for the hot wings to come out.
Jeremy turned to Nathan. “How are things going with Kat?”
Nathan gave a slow shrug. “Pretty bad, I guess.”
Charlie stilled at the response, his eyes shifting to Matt.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. My hand grabbed the bottle, and I leaned against the leather padding in the booth as I stared at him.
Nathan looked down at his beer before he gave an answer. “She ended things yesterday. Just said it wasn’t working. I didn’t ask a lot of questions. We weren’t serious anyway, so…” He gave another shrug.
“Are you okay?” Jeremy asked. “I know you aren’t the commitment type, but you seemed to like her.”
“I did.” He took a drink of his beer. “But when somebody wants to break up, you break up. I have too much dignity to try to talk her out of it, you know?”
Charlie didn’t participate in the conversation and instead stared down into his beer, as if this were another blow to his plan.