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Victoria stares at me in frustration. I set my elbows on the desk, lace my fingers together, and stare back at her.
“Oliver, you can’t do this. We had plans. You promised me. You can’t just lead me on and humiliate me and then—”
“Victoria,” I interrupt, “I don’t think I’ve really been clear enough, and that’s on me. So let me make it plain to you now. If after today, I never see you again, I will be a happy, happy man.”
She recoils as if I’ve slapped her. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I lost that a long time ago.” I laugh, and it isn’t a pleasant sound. “Right around the time I let you back into my life.”
“How can you say that to me?” Her voice climbs, then catches itself. “We were meant to be together, Oliver. That’s what you said, remember? We were meant to be together and—”
“Victoria, I was blowing smoke out my ass. Anything I told you the past few months is pure bullshit.”
She stops, mid sentence, mouth open wide. “What?”
I lean back in my chair. “We were never meant to be. Good God. With you, it’s just money. Money and whatever man happens to be standing closest to the money.” I tilt my head as I watch her. “Did you really think I didn’t know about the payout you took from my father?”
For a split second she looks worried, and I can practically see the gears working in her mind, looking for a way to spin this.
“Oliver,” she says carefully, “it’s not what you think. Your father made it sound like I had no choice, and I—”
“No, it’s exactly what I think.” I get to my feet, and she takes a half step back. “He told me the number you know. I’d love to know if it was accurate. Did you really ask for more? He said you negotiated.”
“He put me in an impossible position, Oliver. He was threatening my family. I had to protect—”
“Jesus, Victoria. You aren’t fooling anyone. You’ve always loved money more than anyone or anything. I’ve always known that about you. I just didn’t care because I wanted you, anyway.”
“Well, then—”
“Wanted. That was in the past tense, Victoria.” I turn my back on her and walk over to the window and stare down at the city below. “I was never going to leave Genny for you. Anything I told you, any promise I made to you was a lie. I just wanted you to believe it. I just wanted you to plan your future around it and then I wanted you to find out what it feels like to be dropped without a word.”
“You bastard,” she hisses behind me.
“Yes,” I agree. “I certainly am.”
I drop back into my chair and scrub both hands down my face. I’m so tired. I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired.
“I lost the best thing that ever happened to me,” I say, not really talking to her anymore. “The best thing that’s ever going to happen to me. And for what? So I could watch you have one bad afternoon in an airport lounge.” I turn to face her, and in that moment, I’m not sure who I hate more. Victoria or myself.
“You’re pathetic,” Victoria spits.
“Yes,” I say again. “I certainly am.”
“How dare you,” her voice rises, sharp and ugly now, “how dare you sit there and judge me. You have no idea. You have no idea what it feels like to watch everything disappear. Tell me Oliver. Be honest with me if you know how. If your father had come to you back then and told you he was cutting you off, and the company, the trust, the inheritance, all of it would be gone, and he’d actually meant it, would you still have chased after me? Would you have given all of it up? For me?”
I look at her.
I think about it. Would I? No corner office in a building with my name on it, no penthouse, no private jet, no power. Nothing but Victoria. For the rest of my life.
I don’t say anything.
“That’s what I thought,” she says with a viscous smile on her face. “You and I are exactly the same, Oliver. You wouldn’t live without all of this any more than I would.” She waves her arm in a wide arc, taking in the office, the windows, the whole glittering penthouse beyond it. “At least I’m honest about what I am.”
I stand up. I walk around the desk, take her by the upper arm, and steer her toward the door.
“It’s time for you to go.”
“I’m not finished—”
