Eruption - Chapter 28 #2
He shrugged. "I guess. Isabella really came through." He shook his head. "She's changed. She's actually changed."
No. She hadn't changed at all. I bit my tongue.
Maybe she was being nice to him to his face but she had just stolen his money.
I needed to tell him. Were the photos leaking worse than him thinking I stole money from him?
My hands were shaking so badly that I had to tuck them under my thighs so he wouldn't notice. "What did you tell your parents?"
"That I needed to talk to you first."
"James, I think they should come."
"I knew you'd say that. That's not what we need to talk about. What were you doing tonight?"
"Getting my dress." My throat felt dry.
He looked back down at his half empty glass of scotch. It didn't seem like it was his first glass. He seemed distant and spaced out. "I got an email from my stock broker, Bill O'Neill, today. A memo for the stocks I sold after work today. You can jump in any time, Penny."
Shit. I had forgotten to tell Bill to not send any emails. I bit my lip. I didn't know how much James knew. Offering any information would just make it worse.
James downed the rest of his scotch. "So, I called him. Apparently I'm investing in Uber? Again?" The more he talked the angrier he looked.
I still stayed silent.
"So I called my bank to see what account the money had been transferred to. But it was gone. Once the money came through, it was transferred to an account that wasn't mine. Why aren't you saying anything?" He looked so mad.
"You don't understand."
"I know I don't understand. That's why I'm trying to talk to you. Why did you liquidate 20 million dollars worth of stocks?"
"I'm sorry. I can't tell you." Please believe me.
He laughed. "Penny." He stood up. "When you turned my parents down for money, I was so sure. I was so sure that what we had was real. That you weren't after me for my money."
"I'm not. And the fact that you weren't sure about me until I turned down your parents' money..." I tried to swallow my tears. "How could you not be sure? When I gave up everything to be with you? When I said yes to your proposal? James..."
"Then why the hell did you just steal 20 million dollars from me?!"
"I didn't steal it. My name was on your accounts."
"Jesus, Penny. And when did you realize I added you to all my accounts?"
"Today."
"Don't lie to me. You promised you wouldn't lie."
"Today, James. I didn't know until today."
He nodded. He seemed to believe me. Which was good, because it was the truth. "How long have you been planning this?"
"I haven't been planning anything, James. I had to transfer the money. I didn't have a choice. I was..."
"Stop lying! You promised you wouldn't lie to me," he repeated. He ran his hands through his hair. "Isabella tried to warn me. She said that you didn't love me. She always said you were after my money."
"Why would you believe her? Have the past two and a half years meant nothing to you?"
He shook his head. "Because she was right. You just wanted me for my money."
"I fell in love with you when you were my professor. You could have been broke. I still would have loved you, James."
"You don't love me. Stop lying to me. What's the point now? You got what you wanted. Just go."
"That's not true. I love you. All I want is to marry you. I'm not going anywhere."
He pulled out something from his pocket and tossed it at me. "You don't love me."
I unfolded the pictures. They were the ones of Tyler hugging me and holding my hand in the diner. Isabella was a fucking liar.
"You still love him." He sounded more hurt by this than the fact that he was missing 20 million dollars.
"I never loved Tyler. James, you know that. I love you. I've only ever loved you." I stood up, but he took a step back from me.
"Then why did you do it?!"
"I..." I didn't know what to say. I didn't have an answer.
"Those pictures aren't what you think. I was upset when you were at your bachelor party.
Melissa wasn't speaking to me. Tyler was just being a good friend.
He went and asked Melissa to be his girlfriend right after this," I said and waved the pictures in the air. "Isabella took these and she's..."
"I know. I know that Isabella took these. She gave them to me a few days ago. And she told me I couldn't trust you. But I didn't listen. Because I trusted you. With everything. I was wrong." It looked like he was about to cry. I had never seen him like this.
I wanted to comfort him. I took another step toward him, but he took a step back. "You weren't wrong, James. You can trust me. Please just believe me. We're being blackmailed. I had to transfer the money so there wouldn't be pictures of us having sex leaked all over the internet."
He laughed and shook his head back and forth. "God, all you do is lie. You're leaving me, right? That's what this is?"
"No."
"And you needed money before you left me?" he said like he hadn't even heard what I had just said. "So you could run away with him?"
"What? No." I wanted to laugh. This whole thing was ridiculous. "I don't love Tyler. I don't want to be with Tyler. And we're certainly not running away together. James..."
"Then why did you transfer 20 million dollars into Tyler's bank account?"
"I didn't." I transferred it to Isabella's account. Fuck. That bitch set me up. "I didn't." My voice sounded so small. Oh God, no. My whole body felt cold.
"Yes you did. At 4 o'clock you transferred 20 million dollars of my money to Tyler Stevens' bank account."
"No. James." I could hear the desperation in my voice. "This isn't what you think."
"Stop it." He ran his hands through his hair again. "Isabella knew. That's why you didn't want me to talk to her. She knew you didn't love me. She knew you just wanted my money."
"I do love you. I love you so much."
"But not as much as you love him? Penny, I trusted you."
"Then trust me now. We're being blackmailed."
"Just stop!" His voice was so loud. "Who the fuck would blackmail you into giving my money to Tyler?"
"I can't tell you."
"Because the answer is no one! Your lie doesn't even make any sense."
He didn't believe me. "We are being blackmailed. I just can't tell you by who or they'll leak..."
"Photos of us having sex? Yeah, I heard you the first time. I need some air." He walked past me. He stumbled slightly and caught himself on one of the stools in the kitchen.
I had only ever seen him this drunk once before after hanging out with Rob back in Newark. "You can't leave. You're drunk. Please just sit down."
"Like you care."
"I do care."
"What because you love me?" he scoffed. "No one loves me. Keep the money. Just get the fuck out of my house."
"James." I put my hand on his arm.
He recoiled from me, like my touch caused him pain. "Leave." His voice was firm.
"I'm not leaving until you listen to me."
"Go be with Tyler. Go be happy. That's all I ever wanted. For you to be happy."
"You make me happy."
"Please just go." He wiped his hand underneath his eyes. I had never seen James cry. It killed me. He was crying because he thought I didn't love him. It felt like my heart was breaking.
"Those pictures aren't what they seem. I don't love Tyler. I love you. I love everything about you. This whole thing is just a misunderstanding."
He pulled out a few more pictures from his pocket. "Like this?" He slammed the picture down on the counter. It was of me touching that random guy's abs at the bar. "Or this?" He slammed down the picture of Austin kissing me.
"They're like the ones of Tyler. They were taken out of context. It was my bachelorette party. There was this list of stupid stuff my friends made me do. And Austin kissed me. I shoved him off right away. Isabella made him..."
"Just save it. I don't care, Penny. You're not my problem anymore."
"Problem? Is that what I've always been? Just something you had to take care of?"
He shook his head. "You certainly can't take care of yourself. You're immature. And selfish. And ungrateful."
"Ungrateful for what? This house that I didn't want? Because I don't like spending your money?"
"I try to give you everything and you always pretended like you didn't want it. You played me."
"I didn't play you. I don't care about your money. And this?" I picked up the picture he had of Austin kissing me. "I trusted you when you kissed Isabella. All I'm asking is for you to do the same. She orchestrated the pictures. You can't believe anything she says."
"But the money? Explain that to me. Just tell me who's blackmailing us." He put the word blackmail in air quotes.
My phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my purse and looked down at the text:
"Don't you dare. All I have to do is press enter."
"What could possibly be more important than this conversation, Penny? Unless it's him?"
"It's not Tyler." Isabella must have cameras in here. She's been watching us this whole time. "You know this isn't about Tyler. You know that. We're just friends."
He shook his head. "You stole from me. For him. And you don't even have an explanation."
"I didn't steal. You said what's yours is mine."
"Come on, Penny. That's just something people say. And I don't know what love is. Obviously. We're calling the wedding off just in time. Because I just liked fucking you. That's all I know. I need another drink."
"You don't mean that."
"I do. You have a great body. But clearly you're a shitty person. You're ugly on the inside. I see that now." He grabbed a glass from the cabinet. "I'll find another ten to keep the bed warm. Don't you worry about that."
"You're just lashing out. Stop saying things just because you're upset..."
"I mean every word that I've said. Go to hell, Penny."
"You're such an asshole." Yes, I couldn't explain the missing money to him. But there was no reason for him to say that he never loved me. That I was ugly on the inside.
"Sure." He unscrewed the cap to the scotch and took a sip straight from the bottle. "I'm the asshole."