They would be stupid to try.
He was alone in his office, so I opened the door and invited myself inside.
The second he looked up from his laptop, he looked pissed to see me. His eyes narrowed automatically and his jaw clenched, like he wanted nothing more than to punch me.
How ironic. The feeling was mutual.
“What the fuck do you want, Slate?” He sat back in his leather chair and spun a pen between his fingers.
“No need to be so hostile. It’s not like I fucked your girlfriend behind your back.” I would throw out that insult every chance I got, to remind him I was the one who should be angry—not him. I helped myself to the armchair facing his desk.
He sighed like he was sick of the jab. “It’s been five years—let it go.”
“Maybe I would if you apologized first.” I never had gotten any remorse from him. Just hints of guilt when I confronted him about it—along with a ton of excuses.
Coen was still behind his desk, watching me without even breathing.
Sometimes, I wondered if he cared about what he did. It didn’t seem like it most of the time.
“I am sorry,” he said. “But apologizing isn’t going to change anything. I’m in love with this woman, and I’m going to spend my life with her. Did you ever think that maybe she and I were supposed to be together, but she happened to meet you first? You really can’t let that go and let your brother be happy?”
“Don’t turn this into some bullshit fairy tale.” Even if that nonsense was true, it didn’t excuse what he did. “Take responsibility for what you did. You fucked my girlfriend behind my back—several times. Then you didn’t even have the balls to tell me. I had to find out online—along with the rest of the world. So don’t turn this into some stupid act of nobility. It would have been completely different if you’d handled it better. But you were a pussy—a pussy that fell for her stunt.”
“It wasn’t a stunt. She fell in love with me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Right before she snuck around with you, she pressured me to marry her. No, it wasn’t because she was in love with me. She wanted my company, and when she realized she wasn’t going to get it, she went to the man who owns the other half.”
“We’ve been together five years. That doesn’t add up.”
“Because she couldn’t find a richer bachelor to cling on to. It’s already become a public scandal, so if she made the moves on some other rich guy, he would know exactly what she was doing. You’re her last hope of getting what she wants.”
He shook his head. “You just can’t stand the fact that she wants me instead of you.”
It was so ridiculous that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “Yeah…that’s what it is.” I was the one who’d turned down her marriage proposal. I was the one who’d stopped her from using me like a puppet.
“If we’re done here, you should go.” He turned back to his laptop.
I hadn’t even addressed the actual reason I came for a visit. “Coen, we really need to talk about this. This is a problem that’s not going to go away.”
“Simone isn’t the problem.” He looked up to meet my gaze. “You’re the problem.”
“No. She came to my office a few hours ago and told me to stay out of her way. If I complied, she wouldn’t interfere with my work. But if I opposed her…she would make my life a living hell once she acquires her part of the company.” I wasn’t the kind of man that lied or made shit up. I was always honest about everything, finding the truth to be masculine and noble. A real man wasn’t afraid to tell the truth because he wasn’t afraid of the consequences. My brother should know that since we grew up together.
“Why would she storm into your office and say that to you? It sounds like she’s putting herself at risk.”
“I have it on video if you want to see it.”
He stilled at the revelation. “You have proof, then?”
“I have evidence that she was in my office and we had an intense conversation. But I don’t have the audio.” I didn’t want to record myself talking to Max about the next virgin I would fuck at my hotel.
“Her coming to your office isn’t evidence enough.”
“Then why was she there?” I snapped. “Why is she coming to my office without your knowledge?”
“I don’t know. I’ll ask her.”
“Or you could just listen to your brother…” The very man who was threatened by that psychopath.
My brother had his head shoved so far up his ass that he couldn’t think straight—at all. “You need to drop this, Slate.”
Now I couldn’t feel bad for him. “I know I shouldn’t even bother…but I don’t want you to be humiliated, heartbroken, and scarred by this woman. She doesn’t give a damn about you. She only wants you for your money, Coen. I’m telling you, you’re making the biggest mistake of your life.”