Chapter Twenty-Seven
Hudson
T he house seems emptier now she’s gone.
After the sex that took me to a completely new level I didn’t know existed, a level I don’t know what to do with because it doesn’t fit with my life and beliefs, Scarlett got a text. Her roommate, I think. I wasn’t paying that close attention because as we dressed I needed to get myself together.
So I let her go. I’ll see her in the morning at work.
I’ve worked out, showered and now I’m back in the room that smells like the best sex I’ve ever had.
The envelope is on the floor and I pick it up, tapping it against my other hand.
I’d almost forgotten about this.
So much has happened since I asked for the information I ordered after I found out about the meeting. I’m not an idiot and I don’t let things just sit when I can get a jump start.
Work smart, not just hard. That’s the rule.
The private investigator sent the info package by courier. I didn’t put a rush order on it, just said I needed it a week before the date I provided.
Information on the lovely Scarlett. That’s what’s in here.
It’s not that I don’t trust her. I do. It’s that with this information I can study up and not ask her boring questions. I just wanted a cheat deep dive into knowing her, the stuff we’ve been over and the stuff I might find useful in the meeting.
To make it fair, I had the same information on me sent to her, so when she gets to the office in the morning, it’ll be there, waiting for her. This way we can go in completely prepared.
I throw myself onto the sofa and run my thumb along the seal, opening it.
Pulling it out I start to read.
And everything goes cold.
I’m the world’s biggest moron. I have to be. I’ve been blindsided by pretty.
Fucking Scarlett. She’s done the one thing I can’t stand. The one thing I won’t stand.
Scarlett lied to me.
I’m in the office early, even for me. And I know I look like shit.
That’s not surprising as I couldn’t sleep.
I picked up the phone about ten times to call her. And put it down each and every time.
I thought about calling Kingston or Magnus. Ryder was out of the question, because he’d just say fuck her, use her, move on. To be fair, they all would, but that would be the beginning and end of his advice. And with the others…there’s nothing they could say I haven’t thought myself.
My door is firmly shut with strict orders not to be disturbed left via text with my receptionist as soon as I got here.
Except, that is, Scarlett.
The fucking liar.
I don’t have long to wait when the work day starts. After a crisp knock, Scarlett breezes in, smiling and happy and I take her in, my blood ice in my veins, anger beating in my heart.
She looks like that flower field, fresh and bright like the sun’s just kissed the morning dew. How she worked out to play me for money is anyone’s guess. She’s not my type. Yet she worked some kind of dark magic on me, anyway.
She’s wearing a very pretty dress, all flowy in the right places, the tiny cream dots on the black material fetching against her dark honey hair. And beneath her arm is that manilla folder I forgot to take from her desk.
“Scarlett.”
She starts to bound over to me but she sees something in my face and stops, a small frown forming as the morning sun decides to struggle out from the blanket gray sky and adorn her just like she’s in that stupid field I made up.
I really am the worst kind of moron.
“Hudson? Is something wrong?”
“You tell me.” I fold my hands in front of me on my desk and keep my best poker face on.
“Well—”
“I’ll help you out, Scarlett. You lied.”
She goes pale. Not even the hint of dew about her now, but I bet she smells just as good as always.
I wait for her to say something, anything, but she doesn’t. She’s seemingly stuck to the spot, unable to move or speak, so I help her out.
“You lied to me. I don’t know how you got away with it or why you did it…” I rake my gaze over her. “Money, I’m guessing.”
“Hudson—”
“But that doesn’t matter. You lied and that’s why this whole thing won’t work. We’ll never get through this.”
“We can, I know it. I’m sorry, I should have said something earlier. But I do know Sarah.”
“Oh, I know. It’s in the report I got on you. I had you investigated, Scarlett.”
The look of horror makes me laugh and I’m feeling mean.
“What? You thought I wouldn’t do that? I told you there’s a lot riding on this, and I told you I expected the best and I expected honesty. The only thing I screwed up was trusting you and not fast tracking the investigation.”
She walks right up to the desk. “It’s not what you think—”
“Oh, so you’re not…” I pull the papers to me, and flip to the page I’m looking for. “From a poor, struggling family where your deadbeat parents took everything and left, and your grandparents ended up bringing you up on what? Hope and a handout?”
She recoils, like I slapped her. “You’re upset. I know that. And I should have told you, but just because we didn’t have money doesn’t mean I can’t do this.”
“Yes, it does.” Cruel. That’s what I’m being, I know it and I can’t stop because she betrayed me. “No one that knows me would in their right mind think I’d go for you. That I’d choose someone like you.”
She nods. “You don’t have to be nasty.”
“No, I don’t, but it’s better than what I want to do.”
“Which is?”
I stare at her. “I just can’t believe you lied and I believed you. Jesus Christ, it’s even obvious why you did all this. Your so-called boyfriend?”
“I never said Danny was that.”
“No, but you led me to think that. No wonder he looked familiar. Now I know, it’s the family resemblance. But even better, I really know who he is now. He’s that little shit who practices dodgy real estate and has been trying to get a foot in my door. Which, by the way, will never happen. And I’ll make sure he fails on every count anywhere he steps in the tri-state area. He can stay with the bottom feeders.”
“You can’t do that.”
I smile, it’s vicious and it’s aimed right at her. “I can.”
“Please don’t take it out on Danny. Please don’t.” She looks like she’s going to cry. “He’s decent and he’s good at what he does, he’s had bad luck and made poor choices in who he trusted—”
“I’ll say, if it’s you.”
She breathes out and half reaches for me and she drops the envelope but makes no move to pick it up as she pulls her hands back in, realizing, it seems, what a futile move she’s trying to make. “You don’t need to be cruel, Hudson. I screwed up.”
“You tried to trick me and you did well, I’ll give you that. Better than most. Then again, most don’t have the kind of wares you have.”
She flinches at the meaning of my words.
“But try and tell me this isn’t some sort of scam dreamed up with you and your brother. It was the name, you see, that I put it together. It’s in my report who he is, but no photo, as I didn’t think I needed that. You tried to use me and you failed.”
“Hudson,” she says, real panic lighting her voice, “that wasn’t my intention. I needed money, but I didn’t set out to scam you or trick you or anything. It was one small lie that got out of hand. I’ll fix this. All of it.”
I’ve had enough. I stood. “No.”
“But we’re close—you’re close. And everything you said last night, you can’t give up now. You don’t have to ever see me again after, but we need to see it through.”
It’s exactly the wrong thing to say to me. I don’t need to be reminded of making a fool of myself, of baring parts of my soul to her. I don’t need a fucking thing from her except for her to be gone from my life.
“When you leave my office,” I say, looking at my watch, “right around now, get your things and go. You’re fired. From both jobs. That includes my life, in case I’m not being clear.”
“But—”
“Do not make me call security.”
Scarlett hesitates and I think she’s going to stay, but she doesn’t. She nods tightly and turns and leaves, head down.
I sink down into my chair and close my eyes. A weird emptiness spreads through me, somehow weighing me down.
It’s over.
And for the first real time in my life, I’ve failed.
In all the ways that matter.