Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(134)

They swore Bekah back in, and on record, Richard asked her if she had had an affair with Clark. After a few minutes of prodding, Richard managed to pull the truth out of her. When the words left her lips, confessing that she had been sleeping with Clark for over a year, Bekah actually broke down into tears. Lexi had never seen Bekah cry. Lexi hadn’t believed Bekah was capable of it.

And all Lexi could hear through Bekah’s sobs was, “I thought he loved me. He told me he loved me.”

Lexi couldn’t get over the fact that Bekah was human. Despite everything that had happened, Lexi couldn’t believe that Bekah was able to show any emotion, except malice. It didn’t really make Lexi feel bad for her since Bekah had put her through too much for that, but Lexi did at least understand her in that moment. Lexi had done the same with Jack over and over again. The only difference was that Jack actually did love Lexi. And he was staring at her right then like he was never going to stop.

The attorneys made their closing remarks, and then the judge made his ruling orally before everyone. He announced that Bekah had breached the infidelity clause in the prenuptial agreement. Due to this, all marital assets would pass to Jack, and Bekah would owe him a prearranged sum that made Lexi’s head spin with zeroes.

Bekah looked like she was in complete shock, and her father looked ready to pummel her. She had broken the rules. She had done the exact opposite of what she had come here to do. She had not only humiliated herself but the entire Bridges family. And Lexi knew what kind of fallout that would have on Bekah.

The judge kept the photograph for now, but he relinquished the dress back into Lexi’s protection. Clark had a few words with Jack before leaving, and Lexi was glad that Clark hadn’t tried to speak with her. She wasn’t sure what she would have been able to say to him. He had been unnecessarily cruel. Sure, it had been to Bekah, who deserved everything that was coming to her and more, but Lexi didn’t want to have to face him for that.

Bekah’s father ushered her out of the courtroom in a hurry, and Lexi and Jack followed close behind them with a smile. Lexi could hear the hushed whispers passing between Bekah and her father as he berated her. Lexi only knew that was happening because she had been around the Bridges enough to pick up on their mannerisms.

Jack stood at her side, a smile bright on his face. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “We’re free.”

Lexi smiled brighter.

“I love you,” he said.

Lexi looked up into Jack’s gorgeous face, and she knew without a doubt that a day had not passed when she did not love this man. “I love you, too.”

They walked by Bekah and her father on the way out of the building, and Lexi heard the word bitch echo behind her. Lexi raised her eyebrows and stopped in her tracks.

“Just give me a minute,” Lexi told Jack.

He looked warningly at her, but she just gave him a reassuring smile and turned back to face Bekah.

“What the f**k do you want?” Bekah snapped as Lexi approached.

“Rebekah!” her father said. He knew that anyone could be listening. He was a pro at this.

“I just wanted to say thanks for everything,” Lexi said, a glint in her brown eyes.

She tossed the red dress into Bekah’s chest, and Bekah caught it instinctively.

“I thought you could wear that since all you were ever good enough for was my sloppy seconds.”

“You bitch!” Bekah snarled, lunging toward Lexi.

Lexi’s eyes went wide, and she staggered backward a few feet out of Bekah’s reach. Bekah’s father grabbed her around the middle and held her back.

Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.

Flashes went off overhead, catching the entire thing on camera. A reporter appeared in her line of vision. It was clear a story was already forming in the reporter’s head.

Bridges Enterprise Golden Girl, Bekah Bridges, Lashes Out At Ex-husband’s New Girlfriend. Father Restrains Raving Lunatic.

Okay, so Lexi’s imagination had embellished the last part, but it would be a good headline.

“You think you won?” Bekah snapped. “I f**king won. You don’t even know what I did. You and Ramsey will never be together. I ensured that when I planted that whore, Elisa.”

Lexi gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth as the words sank in. Suddenly, it all made sense—how Elisa got into the party in the first place and why she was so eager to keep coming back to attack Ramsey, even when it was clearly a lost cause.

The realization made Lexi feel so bad for Ramsey. They’d had to go through all of that for nothing because his sister was the devil. Lexi wished she had known from the beginning. It could have made all the difference in their relationship. She bit her lip and considered what Bekah had orchestrated. But in the end…it probably wouldn’t have changed all that much. It would have had the same outcome. Knowing it now though just made Lexi’s chest feel lighter. Ramsey was the man that he had always said he was. Lexi knew that for sure now.

“That’s right! I helped her,” Bekah said, clearly teetering off the edge. “And I helped Parker find that paperwork. She came to me, wanting to prove that she was right, and so I proved that she was right.”

“Did you manufacture the clinic paperwork?” Lexi asked, imagining how devastated Ramsey would be all over again to hear that. She couldn’t believe how low Bekah had stooped to put a wedge between Lexi and Ramsey.