Cruel Fortune (Cruel #2)(82)

Penn’s gaze swept to mine. Anger—blistering, hot anger—seeped from them. “You can’t guess?”

My hand went to my mouth. “He didn’t.”

“Oh, I saw it.”

I blinked and then blinked again. I didn’t even know how to process all this information. The lies. The betrayal. The…stalking. He hadn’t just orchestrated a way for us to be together. He had done things I would have never been able to think of.

Buying my building? Why?

Video surveillance and a private eye? What the actual fuck?

“This is…insane,” I gasped. “I mean, I asked him point-blank if there was anything else, and he owned up to the emails to bring me out. He said that was it.”

Penn frowned. “He gave you one truth to keep you from looking for the rest.”

“You told me,” I muttered, realization washing over me. “You said there’s always more. You were right.”

His hand softly came down onto my arm. Comforting. Just a light touch to say he was here. “I really hoped that I wouldn’t find it. To spare you.”

“How exactly did you get this?” I asked.

“Well,” he said, scratching the back of his head, “I kind of broke into his apartment.”

“You did what?” I gasped. I stumbled back a step.

“Okay, look, it isn’t as bad as it sounds.” He held his hands up as if he was worried that he’d scare me away. “I went to see him after you came to my apartment this week. I thought it was all a fucking game with him, and then he told me he was actually serious. Showed me the fucking ring. I wanted to believe him, Nat. But I just…didn’t. I’ve known him too fucking long.”

“So, you thought breaking into his apartment was the right move?” I asked hysterically.

“No. Of course not. I told myself that, if he loved you and wanted to do right by you…if you weren’t another one of his fascinations, then he wouldn’t have a file. He’d treat you like the incredible woman that you are. I told myself I would go to his apartment and see if he had one, and if he didn’t, I’d bow out. I’d fucking get a job somewhere else and leave you two to the Upper East Side.”

My heart stopped at those words. “You would have left?”

“For you to be happy?” he asked softly. “Yes. And also because I couldn’t have endured watching it.”

“So…you went looking for the file.”

“Yep, and that motherfucker had this fucking thing on his computer. The manuscript you’d just told me about. All the footage and pictures. I flipped my shit and downloaded the whole thing, and then I knew I had to tell you.”

“And you had to tell me here?” I asked softly. “At the reception? You couldn’t have…called me?”

“Would you have met up with me?”

“I don’t know, Penn!”

“Lewis was acting crazy. He had a ring. I didn’t know if he was going to propose tonight or not,” he said, clearing the distance between us. “I wasn’t going to fucking let you marry him. No fucking way. Not knowing what he’d done. The game he had played to win you.”

“It’s all just a fucking game,” I spat. “Another fucking game.”

My anger burst. Everything I’d been holding in unloaded at once. I pushed against his chest. But he stayed firm, enduring that anger as if he were weathering a storm.

“Natalie,” he said, reaching out to stop me.

But I couldn’t be contained. “How? How could he do this to me? How could he lie? Just fucking lie to my face. I don’t understand.” My voice broke. “I asked for the truth. Is the truth that fucking hard?”

“No,” he said.

“Don’t fucking talk to me about that,” I yelled at him. “You lied, too. You held everything back. This is your fault, too.”

“I lied. I’m sorry. I was wrong. But I wasn’t fucking stalking you, Natalie. I didn’t plan a way for us to be together. We just were. Let out your anger about Lewis, but don’t confuse the two.”

“Fine. No anger for you, just him. Seems fair,” I said sarcastically. I pushed away from him again, deaf to his reasoning. My world had tipped upside down again. I’d had that caution about Lewis, but I’d just told Amy that it was going to be fine. I needed time to process. And now, this?

How did I even move on from this?

This wasn’t a stupid bet that had gotten me fired. This was my boyfriend actually creepily stalking me. Not just arranging for us to meet, but going behind my back and forcing us together. Taking pictures and videos of me without my knowledge.

If that wasn’t bad enough…all three of my manuscripts I’d submitted to Warren were there. He knew how I felt about him reading my work. He knew. I’d told him time and time again. It was the only thing I’d never given up on. So, he’d gone behind my back and stolen the books.

“I’ve taken a year of your anger. Fuck, seven years of your anger, Natalie. But I did this for you. I didn’t want you to find out another way or years down the line when you were fucking married, okay?”

I beat against Penn’s chest, letting out all my frustration and grief. “How could he do this to me?”