Chapter 14
Nina
Rosalie left immediately after that and the moment the door shut behind her, I pulled away from Cole.
“What the Hell just happened, Cole? What are you doing?” I said through gritted teeth. When I stepped away from him, he held up his hands defensively and shook his head.
“I know. Let me explain,” he said and walked back to his desk. I was glaring at him, the back of my neck was burning up in fury.
“You just used me to make your ex girlfriend jealous!” I snapped and Cole sat down with a thump on his chair. He continued shaking his head, like he was confused himself.
“Now I know why you were lecturing me about marriage. You want her. You want Rosalie!” I continued, and stepped away from him. I had no idea why my lips were quivering or why my eyes had filled with tears. I had nothing to do with Cole. Why was I jealous of his feelings for Rosalie?
“What are you talking about?” Cole looked up at me and I noticed that his gray eyes were now bloodshot.
“I’m talking about what you just did, and why you did it. For you, her marriage means nothing. It’s just a piece of paper. It means nothing to either of you. She married your cousin to make you jealous and it worked. You married the first girl you saw, as a retaliation,” I was yelling now, while Cole sat there staring at me with his wide eyes. He said nothing, only fueling me further.
“This was all a lie. I should have known that a man like you wouldn’t just make a silly drunken mistake. It was carefully calculated. You got me drunk, seduced me and then married me in a shotgun wedding…for what? All for bragging rights! Just so that you could tell Rosalie that you are married too. To make her jealous the same way she made you jealous by marrying your cousin!” I thundered. I couldn’t control my words any more. Everything had started to make sense and none of it was in my favor. I had never felt more humiliated or hurt in my life.
“If you’ll just calm down and listen to me, I can explain,” he finally said. I couldn’t understand how he could be so calm in the middle of this. But then again, none of it made any difference to his life. A marriage meant nothing to him.
“I don’t need to be calm, Cole. I now know exactly what you’re doing. You have ruined my dreams and hopes, just for bragging rights. Just so you could make an ex girlfriend jealous. You didn’t even stop to think what effect your actions could have on someone else’s life,” I was chocking up now. All the tears I had been holding in for so long were coming gushing out. Cole was looking at me with his face darkened, his eyes small and his jaw firmly set in a straight line. He said nothing.
“You used me. You made me believe that it was all just a silly drunken mistake, when you acted completely out of selfish reasons. You knew exactly what you were doing. That’s the reason you haven’t contacted your lawyers yet. You wanted to tell Rosalie first. Have you shown her the certificate yet? Did you wave it in front of her face to make her green with envy?” I didn’t even know if I was making any sense any more.
Cole had his head hung down, he wasn’t looking at me. I could see that he was finally ashamed…or at least affected by my words. I didn’t feel victorious though. I only felt sick to my stomach. Sick and silly for having fallen for this. For actually harboring hopes that the two times we had slept together at least, meant something. That at the very least, Cole Emery was attracted to me. When the truth was, that I was just another girl. Any girl could have taken my place. I just happened to be there at the right time, unknown and non-rich enough to simply slip under the radar unnoticed. A shotgun wedding with me would attract no media attention, the way it would if he tried the same thing with one of his usual famous women.
“You are a lying, scheming, arrogant man and you deserve the heartbreak you’re feeling over Rosalie. I’m glad she’s married someone else and one day you will realize how important a marriage is. What it represents. And till you do, you can continue playing around,” I said and turned to walk away from him. Cole still hadn’t said anything. He was simply sitting at his desk, and hadn’t even tried to stop me.
“You can expect to hear from my lawyers. I want this marriage annulled and over. I don’t ever want to see you again. You disgust me,” I said, before leaving his office.
When I banged the door shut behind me, the tears came gushing out. It was like a torrential rain of tears. I had been fooled, and made an idiot of. I had been stupid enough to think that it was a joint silly decision, when I had simply been played. This wasn’t my story. I was just a chapter in someone else’s romance. Years from now, I could imagine Cole and Rosalie laughing about me…and the lengths to which Cole had to go to get her back.
My ego had never been this bruised before. I should have known from the start, Clara was right, Cole would never have done something this foolish for no reason at all.
I walked into the elevator, wiped the tears that streaked my cheeks and then walked past a fuming Maria in the lobby.
“I’m sorry. Won’t ever happen again,” I said to her curtly as I left the building. I only looked back once when I was in the parking lot, and when I looked up I saw Cole at his office window, five floors above, looking down at me. I snapped my face away from him. It was over now. I could finally move on. There was no hope left.