“I am not throwing a tantrum,” I bite out. “And this has nothing to do with you, so stay out of it.”
“You look like shit, you have circles under your eyes, and your concentration is all over the place.” Jake waves the resignation letter in the air. “It’s obvious you’re head over heels for this woman. So why are you sitting on your ass and doing nothing about it?”
“You should be happy,” I sneer. “You were the one who wanted her gone. Didn’t you say she was a gold digger, that she and Lucas were probably in cahoots?”
“I don’t remember saying that last part,” Jake mutters. “But there’s a possibility I was wrong.”
“Excuse me?” I stare at him. “Wrong about what?”
When he doesn’t reply, I put my hands palm down on my desk, my voice low and dangerous. “Wrong about what, Jake?”
“Remember how I told you Natalie was in the hospital?”
I study him intently, my heartbeat quickening.
“Well, it turns out she wasn’t in an accident. It was Lucas who put her there.”
My blood runs cold. “Say that again.”
Jake meets my gaze, and I see a heaviness in his eyes. “Clarice told me she was looking for the nurse who was on duty that night. I saved her the effort and tracked the woman down. Natalie was in the ICU for a week, Ethan. She was in a coma for three days, according to the nurse. Her mother visited her once she woke up. She told Natalie not to press charges against Lucas.”
I can see the discomfort on my brother’s face as he continues. “She—” He lets out a sigh. “She blamed Natalie for Lucas beating her up. She called her a whore.”
I sink into my chair, my pulse racing as Natalie’s words come rushing back to me. She said I ruined her life. I had thought she was being dramatic, exaggerating the past.
“It was because of me, wasn’t it?” I ask hollowly. “Because Islept with her. She must have told him. She must have wanted to warn him that I was trying to find the client list?—”
“Or she went to him for comfort, the way Megan would have come to us,” Jake finishes quietly. “It was a neighbor who called the police. When they arrived, Lucas was pounding on her unconscious body. They had to drag him off her. It was touch and go with her for a while. Nobody visited her in the hospital. Not till the hospital called her mother to tell her Natalie had regained consciousness. And when her mother did come, it was to threaten her. If Natalie didn’t drop the charges, not only would she lose access to her trust fund, but she would also be kicked out of her apartment.”
“So she dropped the charges, didn’t she?” I ask slowly. “And she was kicked out anyway.”
Jake looks both angry and uncomfortable. “I’ve been busy these past few days, Ethan. I managed to locate the doorman who was working at the time. Natalie’s belongings were thrown out in the trash the day after she was hospitalized. I’ve a feeling whatever trust fund the nurse overheard her mother talk about, that was also taken from Natalie. According to the doorman, she was on crutches when she arrived at the building. And the first thing she did was check her bank accounts. They had been emptied. The doorman gave her a ride to the local shelter for women and some money for food.”
My eyes are fixated on a spot on the desk before me, guilt burning me alive from the inside. All because I seduced her. She went through hell because of what I did. No wonder she despises me. Because of me, she lost everything. She had to go live in a fucking shelter.
“Ethan…” Jake begins cautiously. “What happened to her wasn’t your fault?—”
“Bullshit!” I snarl, pushing away from my desk and striding over to the window. Sticking my hands in my pockets, I look out at the city of New York, its skyline crisp in the earlySeptember air. “This is my fault. I miscalculated. I never knew Lucas could go to such lengths. No wonder she’s been trying to stay away from me. If I had known?—”
“If you had known, it wouldn’t have changed anything for you,” my brother says calmly. “You acquired this company because of her. You wanted her back. Look, I may not understand your reasoning, but I know you. You’ve never gone this far for any woman. Hell, I don’t even think you’ve paid this much attention to a woman before. It’s always been Natalie for you. You can’t stop now.”
“She wanted me to leave her alone,” I finally say, fury burning in the pit of my stomach.
I did this to her.
“I kept pushing her and pushing her. How could she be with someone who ruined her life so thoroughly?”
“You didn’t ruin her life, Ethan,” Jake interjects. “You had no way of knowing how her family would react.”
“For whatever reason, her mother is back in her life and taking money from her,” I murmur, my hands clenching in my pockets. “And I used her dwindling financial condition against her.”
Jake’s chair scrapes against the floor as he walks over to me. “You’re being irrational. You had no way of knowing. And a lot of time has passed, Ethan.”
When I don’t say anything in response, he runs his fingers through his hair. “Women aren’t so simple, Ethan. Trust me; I would know. If she wanted you out of her life, she had multiple ways. Even now, there are companies who want to poach her. She has built entire human resource departments in the companies she’s worked at. She single-handedly reduced turnover rates. Employees like her are valued everywhere they go. Whichever company wants her will be willing to pay the penalty fees for her breaking the contract. She knew that. She knew that, and she still stayed.”
I know he has a point. A lot of companies have been eyeing Natalie, especially after the three years she spent fixing this company. When she first sent her resumes to different companies on my arrival, I reached out to those companies and warned them off. But I know that if she truly wanted to, she could’ve found new employment. She’s smart enough to know that, and she has enough knowledge of this industry to know where she’s needed.
I don’t know why she didn’t do it, but I know I have played the role of a villain in her life far too many times. Why did she sleep with me again? Her taste still lingers on my tongue, a haunting sweetness I can’t forget.
