I flipped through the pages, and a signature flashed by over and over.
Lucas David Dylan.
David slammed the door and turned back to me. “I’m sorry,” he said. “As I was saying—”
I could no longer see through the blur of angry tears filling my eyes. I lifted my head just as David stopped, taking in the scene before him. “What is this?” I asked, holding up the contract.
He didn’t respond right away, frozen in place as his eyes scanned my face. “Olivia—”
“What thefuckis it?” I asked.
His eyebrows gathered as he stared at me. “You weren’t supposed to see that yet.”
“This is the Oak Park house,” I said. “The one Bill and I made an offer on. You—youboughtit?”
David sighed deeply and swiped a hand over his face. “Yes.”
But it was more than a house. It’d been Bill’s and my chance to fix our marriage. My attempt to move on from David and forget him. Myfuture. And David had gone behind my back and taken that away from us.
The papers rustled audibly in my shaking hand. “You asshole.”
“Let me explain,” he started.
“You lied to me,” I said.
“I didn’t lie. I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
He stood unnaturally still while I nearly vibrated. Finally, he said, “Once you left him.”
“You were so sure I’d divorce my husband for you? Or did you assume us losing the house would be the final straw?” I scoffed in disbelief. “How dare you? Bill trusted you. We trusted you to help us. You know how much I loved that house.”
“I do know, yes,” he said much too calmly.
“So why?” I asked. “Why’d you do it?”
His jaw set. “Why do you think, Olivia?”
My breath came in short bursts. The room sharpened around us. What David had done was more than trying and failing to keep his hands off me. He’d purposely manipulated the situation to his favor, and I could only think of two reasons why, both despicable. “You told me yourself it was a good investment,” I said. “That the seller didn’t know its value. You flip houses in the suburbs.”
He shook his head slowly. “I didn’t buy it to make a profit. You know me better than that.”
“Then you did it to swipe it out from under Bill. To emasculate him. To drive an even deeper wedge into my marriage when this house was the key to fixing it.”
Now, David looked as angry as I was, his hands two fists at his sides. “You need a shitty fucking pile of bricks to fix your marriage? Do you hear what you’re saying?” He thrust a hand through his hair. “I’m standing here offering you everything, when your husband has no clue how to make you happy.”
I felt suddenly defensive of Bill, who didn’t deserve any of this—but who especially didn’t deserve to be on the other end of David’s scheming. “Fuck you,” I said. “Was this always just a game for you? Showing up at my work, charming my friends, dating Dani, introducing me to your family—now this?” I was being unfair, even if everything I said was true. Even if I had every right to be livid. But I didn’t care, and I couldn’t bring myself to stop. “I can’t believe I thought this was more than it is. The truth is, you get some kind of perverted satisfaction from destroying my marriage.”
“That’s enough,” he said, his voice booming through the office. He ripped at the knot of his tie until it came loose. “Don’t you ever speak to me that way. I did this for you. To show you that I believe in us.”
“In . . .us? There’s no us.” The words left a bitter aftertaste, but the way David flinched satisfied me. I was fucking tired of being pushed and pulled in different directions—Bill urging me for months on end to agree to a baby, and now David trying to manipulate me into his arms. “You say you’re offering me everything, but for how long?”
David slid the silky tie through his hand as if he meant to use it on me. “What do you mean?”
“How long do I get ‘everything’?” I asked. “Until the next ‘most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen’ comes along? Until you grow tired of fucking the same pussy every night?”
“Don’t talk about yourself like that. Don’t talk aboutuslike that.” He balled up the tie and threw it on a chair as he stalked toward me. “I know you’re hurt, but you better calm down and think about what you’re saying.”
