His eyes tore open. “You know Stella’s pregnant?”
“I know more than that, Jake,” she said without any emotion.
His eye twitched. “I was talking aboutyou, not me, Emily. I just wanted to know if you’ve finally stopped being bitter about what happened between us. I can see that’s not the case though.”
Emily let out a laugh. He didn’t even bother asking how long she’d known, what else she’d known. It was so like him to overlook the details. Or to simply not care about them at all.
With a swift signature at the bottom of the paper, she stood up quickly. “It’s pathetic that you’re still caught up on me even after all this time, Jake.”
He stood at her taunting, eyes blazing. “What did you just say?”
She let out a sigh. “If you must know, I am over you.” The way in which his eyes hardened fed her satisfaction. “Have been since the night I saw you and Stella kissing while I was drunk in your car.”
“Y-You…” Horror was in his eyes, pouring from every orifice of his body. “You’ve known about us since then? Before the gala invitation drama? Wait a minute.” He looked at her, nausea filling his face. “You planned all of this, didn’t you?”
At her smirk, his worst suspicions were confirmed.
“Fuckkk!” he cursed vehemently, fists slamming against the table. “You tried to ruin me and my company—everything I havejust because I cheated on you? Because of one little mistake? Do you have any idea how much fucking money we’ve lost, Emily? Steven is trying to fuck me over as we speak. Are you…are youinsane?!”
“The fact that you still think what you did to me was a momentary lapse of judgment shows how much you deserved it.”
He released a strangled sound. “And you had the nerve to play the victim? After knowing all that, you were still with me, hugging me, kissing me?—”
“Ew, I haven’t kissed you since then.” She held up a hand. “As for the hugs, they were difficult, but I managed to pull it off after holding back on my gag reflexes.”
Jake stilled. “Yeah, you’re right. You hadn’t kissed me since then.” The realization dawned. “Yet you still blamed me for putting Stella, even Starz above you, making me feel sorry for you with those teary eyes. Thosefuckingeyes! I should’ve known when you never asked about another wedding date. Fuck, I should’ve known.”
“How else would you have believed that you were fooling me? I had to play the part, Jake. It’s calledacting. If you’d have an ounce of decency, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
“You bitch!” he finally exploded. “You fucking played me!”
“You played me first,” Emily hissed. “I told you then, when you picked Stella’s side and broke up with me, that you’d regret the day you ever met me.”
He began pulling at his hair, strands falling in quick succession. “There I was telling Stella her suspicions werewrong. I thought she was being jealous when she said you did everything on purpose at the gala. I said that you couldn’t lie to save your life…” He chuckled. “Yet you were lying to my face this entire time.”
Emily pursed her lips at his little tantrum. “Why are you acting as ifyou’rethe victim here?” she asked calmly. “You cheated me and my family. Yes, I was wrong for allowing you to fool me, but you still did. You relied on me for your success. I was just a backup plan for you. You never loved me, Jake.”
Her eyes swirled with malice.
He stared, lips slightly parting.
She closed them and just like that, the emotion disappeared.
“That’s how you did it,” he whispered, the words scraping out of him in disbelief.
She didn’t comment.
“Okay. Alright. I do have regrets,” he said quickly, running a hand over his mouth, feet tapping. “You said you’d make me regret ever meeting you? Well, I do. I fucking regret it because you’re the most selfish, soulless bitch I’ve ever met. You used to creep me the fuck out on our dates because it’d seem like you were mirroring me. Every place we went to it was like you were a different person.”
She refused to flinch.
“You chalked it up to your mental health at the time, and I dealt with that shit. Wanna know why? Because you, Golden Girl, weremygolden ticket if Starz didn’t fucking work out. I knew I could wear you down. I knew I could make you break out of that stupid, fucking depressive state. But for fuck’s sake, Emily, do you really have to get every fucking thing you want?!”
Her heart thumped, but she stood her ground.
“No! The answer isno. You were born with everything, but I still took what mattered the most,” he snarled. “Taught you humility the hard way. Family? Gone. Love? Never existed,babe.”
She couldn’t help the laugh that left her. She’d undergone a revenge plan and risked losing herself over this?Him?
