Chapter Seventy Seven
I hesitate as I climb out of the Uber and contemplate asking the driver to take me back home. Even now, I’m unsure whether I’m doing the right thing or if I’m about to make the biggest mistake of my life. I close the door behind me and watch as they drive away. There’s no going back now.
I walk up to the huge double gates and press the intercom button. They open almost immediately as though Emily has been waiting for me. I look down at the file in my hand and tell myself that I can do this. I must do this.
She opens the front door and gestures for me to enter. She looks happy to see me and even a little bit smug. I stop at the bottom of the huge wooden staircase and look up at the ornate chandelier above my head. “Thanks for coming,” she says. “Follow me.” She leads me through a formal dining room and into a small sitting area. “Sit down, make yourself comfortable.” I perch on the edge of the sofa and glance around. I don’t think I’ll ever feel comfortable around her, especially when I’m in the house that she once shared with Mason. She picks up a remote and pushes a few buttons. Soft music begins to play as she eyes the file in my hand. “So you finally have some information for me?”
“I do.”
She holds her hand out. “Well?”
“Before I show you, I want to know why you hired me.”
“What do you mean? I hired you for the same reason all the other women hire you. To see if Mason would cheat on me.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“And there’s no other reason?”
She leans her head to one side. “What other reason would there be?”
“Oh, I don’t know…something about a prenup, maybe?”
She raises an eyebrow. “Spit it out, Sophia.”
“I know about the clause in your prenup. If one of you gets caught cheating, the other person gets one hundred percent of everything.”
She sits up straighter. “Where did you hear that?”
“Does it matter?”
She glances down at the file. “I guess not anymore. Yes, it’s true about the clause.”
“So you used me to get the evidence you needed?”
“It depends on how you look at it. You once told me that you can’t force a man to cheat. If Mason didn’t take the bait then I wouldn’t have been able to take his money, would I?”
“And you still believe that it’s cheating even though you’re getting a divorce?”
“So you know about the divorce too. What else has Mason told you?”
“He told me that you’ve been separated for almost four months and that there’s no chance of you getting back together.”
She shrugs. “The papers haven’t been served yet. He’s still my husband.”
“He’s not a cheater and we both know it.”
“The evidence in your hand suggests otherwise. Speaking of which, are you going to keep me waiting all day?”
“We haven’t finished talking. I’ll show you when I’m ready.”
“Moody today, aren’t you?” She gestures for me to carry on.
“Mason is a good person. He’s one of the most honest and trustworthy men that I have ever met. He doesn’t deserve what you’re doing to him.”
She laughs. “What we’re doing to him.”
“No. I never chose this. I want out.”
“Well give me the evidence and it will all be over.”
“Did you ever love him?”
“Of course I loved him.”
“Then how can you do this to him?”
She shrugs. “It’s nothing personal.”
“Are you joking? Of course it’s personal. You’re trying to ruin his life. He’s worked so hard to get where he is today and you want to take it all away from him. If you truly loved him then you wouldn’t go through with it. I’m here to ask you to nullify the contract.”
She laughs. “Nullify the contract? Why the hell would I do that?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“A clear conscience and whatever you’re actually entitled to. Whatever you agreed to when you signed the prenup.”
“I signed the prenup when I was madly in love and when I thought we would be married forever.” My stomach churns. “But things change. People change. I’m not a naïve little girl anymore. I’m only entitled to five percent of his whole empire. I’d come out with less than three mil. This house is worth more than that. Does that seem fair to you?”
“Actually, it seems more than fair.”
“Are you joking? I put my whole life on hold for him.”
“That’s your own fault.”
“Excuse me?”
“He never asked you to do that. He never asked you to quit your job. Just like he never forced you to play golf and go to lunch with your friends every day. Stop blaming him for everything.”
“But he is to blame. He became emotionally unavailable. He didn’t show me any affection for well over a year.”
“Was that before or after your affair?”
“Oh wow, apparently you’re an expert on my life now. It’s nice to know that he’s still hung up on the affair. How childish of him to keep going on about it.”
“Of course he’s still hung up on the affair. You betrayed him. You broke his trust. You made him question everything, not just about your relationship but about his intuition, his judgement and his self respect. So no, he’s not childish to want to talk about his trust issues or insecurities which stemmed from you not being able to keep your panties on.”
She starts to slow clap. “Bravo. Nice little speech there. Why are you so bothered? This is your job. This is what you do.”
“No it’s not. I catch cheating men. Mason isn’t a cheater. You’ve been broken up for months.”
“Jesus. I should have just hired Carmen from the start. She didn’t question me like you always seem to do.”
“And did she trap him?”
She smiles. “No. Apparently he told her that he’s the happiest he’s been in a long time. Hey, at least you’ve made him happy while screwing him over.”
I take a deep breath. “I’m giving you one last chance to nullify the contract. If you won’t do it for Mason then at least do it for karma.”
“I don’t believe in karma.”
“Well you should. Let me rip these photos up.”
“What photos?” My head spins around and I gasp when I see Mason standing in the doorway, drained of all color. “What are you doing here, Sophia?”
Emily laughs. “Well isn’t this cozy?”
I didn’t hear his footsteps because of the music. “Did you set this up?” I ask her. “Did you tell him to come here?”
“Yes. I thought it might be nice for us all to get together. I’ve always wanted a threesome, haven’t I, Mason?”
He ignores her completely, looking only at me. “Sophia?”
“I was going to tell you today, I swear. I was going to explain everything.”
“What’s happening?” he asks.
“Aww, did you think that Sophia was actually interested in you?”
“Mason, let’s go somewhere else. I’ll tell you everything.”
“Oh no,” Emily says. “I want to see the look on his face when he finds out the truth.”
“The truth about what?”
“Sophia is my employee,” Emily announces as she snatches the file out of my hand. I don’t even have the strength to stop her. My whole body feels limp. I’ve dreaded this moment for weeks but the look in his eyes is way worse than anything I could have ever imagined. “I hired her to seduce you. To trap you.”
I see the exact moment his heart breaks and even though I tried to prepare myself for this, I feel my own heart shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. He shakes his head. “No. I don’t believe you.”
Emily laughs as she walks over to him. “It’s true. Look.” She shoves the file in his face. “All the evidence is in here.” She opens it and quickly glances down at the first page. “I have photographic evidence of you cheating on me. Tsk tsk, Mason. If only you could have waited until we got divorced. Maybe if you had been more of a man and had sex with your own wife, you wouldn’t have been so desperate to shove your dick inside the first woman to pay you a bit of attention.” He looks at the photograph and frowns. She turns the page without looking. “There are pages and pages of them. Keep an eye out for the divorce papers, darling.”
He looks at the second page and then looks at me in question. I shake my head. “Not here.” He takes the file off of her then walks out of the room.
“Hey! Come back!” she shouts. “I’m guessing you made copies?” she asks me.
I ignore her and chase after Mason. He doesn’t stop walking, even after leaving the house. “Mason, wait.” I have to jog to keep up with him. “Please let me explain.”
He finally stops when we’re completely clear of the front gates. “Is it true what she said?”
“Mason…”
“Is it true?”
“Yes but…”
He covers his face with his hands and crouches down as though he can’t bear to stand. I see his pain. I feel his pain. I am his pain. “You lied to me. All of this has been a lie. I thought we had something real.”
“We did. We do. It was all real for me. I didn’t help her. I didn’t tell her anything.”
“Why did you agree to do it in the first place?”
“I…it’s my job…it was my job. I’m going to quit.”
“You told me you were a writer.”
“I majored in English and Creative Writing. I hated lying to you. It tore me up inside.”
“So your real job is to seduce men?”
I sigh. “I catch cheaters. Women hire me to find out if their husband is cheating on them. I didn’t know you were getting divorced. I would never have agreed to help her. As soon as you told me you were separated, I tried to stay away.”
“You didn’t try very hard.”
“I did. That was the problem. I tried really hard but the more I got to know you, the more I liked you. I couldn’t stay away.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“She made me sign a contract. A non-disclosure form. She threatened to sue me if I told anybody. I came close to telling you a few times.”
“I wouldn’t have said anything to Emily.”
“I know that now. I was scared of losing you. I knew you wouldn’t want anything to do with me once you found out.”
“That’s for me to decide.”
“I know. I’m so sorry, Mason.”
“What else was in the contract? Did she order you to fuck me last night?”
“No! No, of course not. I swear to you it was all genuine. I didn’t want to help her in any way. That’s why I was so worried about the camera in the elevator. I thought somebody might sell it then Emily could use it against you. She kept pushing for photos and asked me to wear a wire but I wouldn’t help her.”
He holds the file up. “Did you take these photos?”
“No. One of my friends owed me a favor. She used to work for the agency as a photographer but now she’s a private detective.”
“And Emily doesn’t even know that these are of her?”
“No. I let her believe they were photographs of you. I was going to show her and make her call the whole thing off but then you turned up.”
“You didn’t have to do all of this.”
“I wanted to. It wasn’t fair that she was accusing you of cheating and trying to take your money when she was the one dating somebody else. I swear to you that I was going to come and see you after I was done here. I was going to tell you everything.”
“Why should I believe you?” I reach into my purse and pull out the watch. His eyes widen in complete and utter shock as he takes it from me. “My grandpa’s watch. Where did you get this?”
“I got it from a pawn shop a couple of weeks ago. She pawned your stuff, Mason. I found out and bought it back, before I even knew whose it was or what it meant to you. I couldn’t afford any of the other things. I’ve been desperate to give it back to you since you told me it was your grandpa’s.”
He shakes his head. “I told you how guilty I felt about it the other night but you still didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t know how to. I’m so sorry. I wish I could turn back time.”
“Me too.”
My heart aches as Charlie pulls up beside him. “Please believe me, Mason. I never wanted to hurt you. I came here today to try and put an end to it all. She wanted to take everything away from you.”
“She already has.” His eyes burn into mine and I’m not sure where his pain ends and mine begins. “Goodbye, Sophia.” He opens the car door and climbs inside. My eyes fill with tears at how final his goodbye sounded. I watch him drive away, taking part of my heart with him. I drop to my knees and let the pain wash over me.