‘Fifty-one. But—’
‘I’m impressed. That was quick work. I assume you had everything ready to go as soon as probate was granted?’
‘Yes. I—’
‘It did cross my mind to increase my shareholding a few times before your grandfather died, but I didn’t act on it—it would have felt treacherous.’ He zipped the first suitcase shut and lifted it onto the floor. ‘Our grandfathers took great pride in their partnership being equal. Neither could benefit without the other benefiting, too. For me to increase my shareholding while Raul was alive would have spat on that fundamental agreement as it would have made me the first amongst equals. When he died, again I could have increased my shareholding, but instead I went to Raul’s granddaughter.’ Back at the shelves and racks of her clothes, his gaze caught hers for a moment before he gathered a pile of her jumpers into his arms.
That moment was enough for her insides to shrivel all over again. ‘I’m sorry. Iwasgoing to tell you tonight, I swear. Whatever Paul told you about my motives…they changed. I set the wheels in motion to get majority control and kick you off the board the day after you proposed. I was angry and emotional, and I acted rashly, but I swear, I’ve no intention of going through with it. I would never take the company from you.’
She might as well have spoken to the wind. Xavi continued his monologue as if she hadn’t even opened her mouth.
‘I thought we could continue that long-established partnership with us both benefiting equally.’ He placed an armful of her jeans and trousers into a case. ‘I would continue to run the company and you could slot into it in whatever creative capacity you wanted, and we would both reap the rewards, and—’
‘And that will still happen,’ she promised beseechingly. ‘Nothing’s changed there, Xavi. Nothing.’
Her words fell on deaf ears, Xavi picking up exactly where he’d left off. ‘And if we were going to be partners in business then we should be partners in life, too, and do that thing we’d promised we would do when we were too young to know what we were doing and finally get married.’ Crossing the floor to add another pile of jumpers into the suitcase, his stare caught hers again. His lips formed a snarl. ‘It never crossed my mind that Raul’s granddaughter would be so treacherous as to work directly against me and stab me in the back.’
Although anger had been bubbling beneath his veneer of normality, to witness it rise to the surface made tendrils of her own anger unfurl.
‘That is some major revisionist history,’ she defended herself shakily. ‘You married me first and foremost to keep control. Everything else was secondary, including your wish to marry me.’
His glare was full of contempt. ‘I never lied to you, not once, whereas everything you’ve done has been a lie.’
‘Never lied to me?’ A sudden burst of fury propelled her from the wall to cross the dressing room floor and wrench the jumpers from his arms. She hurled them to the floor. ‘You promised you would love me forever,’ she cried. ‘What was that if not a lie? You promised there would never be anyone else for you, another lie, and then you threw me away as if I never meant a damn thing to you.’
But this only made his visible anger turn darker. ‘So this has all beenrevenge? All these years and you’ve been harbouringrevenge?’
‘You broke me, Xavi. You didn’t just break my heart, you brokeme. You threw me away like an unwanted toy without any warning, and then days later jumped into bed with Ellen.’
He kicked a jumper so hard it flew through the air and landed on the far wall. ‘I told you before, I never slept with her! Nothing ever happened with Ellen.’
‘She sent me a time-stamped photo of you asleep in her bed three days after you dumped me!’
‘I don’t care what she sent you. Nothing happened. She had a party at her house, and I went along and drank a bottle of whisky and passed out. I was so drunk I didn’t know it was her bed until I woke up the next morning to find her sharing it.’
‘Then why didn’t you say that when I asked? Why lie?’
‘The question was about sex, not sleeping arrangements. I never had sex with her. I could have told you I’d passed out in her bed, but I was trying to convince you to marry me, not rake over poisonous old ghosts. Hell, Beth, don’t you think ending our relationship affected me, too? Ending us almost damned near killed me.’
She threw her hands in the air and laughed bitterly. ‘Oh, I’ve heard everything now. You were like a freaking robot with its humanity wiped out.’
‘And why do you think I had to be like that? It’s because it was the only way I could do it—Ihadto switch myself off. My brain knew it had to be done but my heart didn’t want to let you go, and I only went to that damned party to drink myself into oblivion so I could try and forget you.’
‘You didn’t need to forget me! I was at my grandfather’s praying to every deity in existence for you to come back to me!’
‘We were over, Beth! I wasn’t going back to you. Ending us hurt us both, but it was necessary, and for you to hold on to your resentment over it for all these years is just warped when you moved on long before I did. Even if I had screwed Ellen that night, that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done. You married me under false pretences for revenge so you could take control of the business for yourself and push me out, and all for something you thought happened that didn’t happen eight years ago?’ His face twisted with loathing. ‘You sicken me. Take your cases and get out of my home, and prepare yourself for a fight because I am not going to let you get away with your treachery.’
‘You don’t seriously think I did all this because ofEllen, do you?’ she demanded, angry heat suffusing her from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes.
‘Who knows what goes on in your twisted mind. You brought her up, not me.’
‘As an example of what I believed was another of your lies, but it changes nothing else and it doesn’t change what you did to me, and all that crap about you drinking yourself into oblivion because of how much you were missing me? Utter bullshit. If you’d felt a fraction for me of what I felt for you, you would never have let me go. You didn’t even try to keep us together, just excised me from your life like you wereripping off a plaster, and as for that crap about us being too young to know what we were doing before—I’m only three years older now than you were then! You used our ages and the business as an excuse to get rid of me then, just as you’re using what Paul told you earlier as an excuse to do the same now. Look at you, packing my stuff for me and telling me to leave and not even attempting to listen to me. You want me gone, just like you did before, except this time you get to pin it all on me.’
‘Itisall on you,’ he snarled, leaning his darkly furious face right into hers. ‘You married me to destroy me, and I’m not going to listen to another word that comes out of your lying, treacherous mouth, so take your stuff and get the hell out of my home. The next time I see you will be in court because this is war.’
The room was spinning furiously around her, dizzying her as the truth slapped her around the face.
There was no saving them. Xavi had already been looking for a way out. This was just the excuse he’d been looking for.
