Sophia’s Point Of View
I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to.
This was it.
The moment I found out the whole truth about Mr Prescott.
I was scared that once more I might have trusted the wrong man, but at the same time, I needed to know.
“Reid has always had a weak spot for broken girls,” Penelope’s soft voice turned wistful, her gaze turning slightly inwards.”Maybe it was because of his dysfunctional family but when I met him, he wanted to save me,”
Penelope chuckled at her own words, the laughter sounding oddly sad and broken.
Tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear, Penelope continued her story.
“I was done with life in general and if he had been a moment late, I might have thrown myself off that damn building.”
She said it so casually with her usual collected air that I would have found it hard to believe someone like her would have tried to commit suicide.
I realized at that moment that I barely knew anything about Penelope.
“His eyes reminded me of a storm when he ordered me to live. He said that life was a gift not everyone had the luxury of keeping. My life was not a gift to me or anyone for that matter yet for some reason I found myself listening to him.”
Storm. That was what she had called him yesterday in the hallway.
Listening to her talk about Mr Prescott, I could literally hear her yearning for the past in her voice and it made me distinctly uncomfortable as I realized Penelope still loved Mr Prescott.
“If both of you were so perfect together, why are you apart now?” I asked.
“I never said we were perfect together,” Penelope said, looking away as though it would reduce the impact her next words would have on me. “Reid loved me far more than I did him.”
Wait what?
“In the beginning, it was fine. I cared for him. How could I not? He saved me and introduced me to a life, unlike the one I had been wallowing in. He took care of me. He was so open, funny, witty and the most handsome man I knew.”
With each word Penelope said, I had to wonder if we were talking about the same person.
Mr Prescott was open? Funny? I mean he had his moments where he made me smile but funny was one adjective I would never use to describe Mr Prescott. The only spec of humour he routinely held was of the dark variant.
And as for him being caring… I thought of him saving me from those assassins and my hand automatically reached for my bandaged wrist. Even though Mr Prescott was authoritative and cold most of the time, I couldn’t deny the fact that he had his moments.
It was those moments that were currently putting my heart in danger.
What exactly had happened to make him change so much?
“But everything changed when he proposed,” Penelope’s breathy voice brought me out of my head and back to our conversation. “I felt a shackle settle around my wrist instead of a ring.”
“Watching my parent’s violent marriage of which I was a casualty, I always knew I wanted no part in marriage,” Tears trickled down Penelope’s cheeks as she spoke. “But I thought it would be different with Reid. That I would change my mind.”
That was when it hit me.
“You broke off the engagement.” I inhaled sharply.
Penelope shook her head, further confusing me. If she didn’t break off the engagement then what had happened?
“I left,” Penelope said curtly. “We went for the will reading and I…”
Her voice cracked, her words trailing off.
Penelope picked up her cup and took a sip of her tea before she continued.
“Reid caught me in bed with Jerry and I left,” She said, meeting my gaze without a flicker of shame in those gray eyes. “I just walked away from it all. I always knew I didn’t deserve him.”
It felt like my head was swimming. Was that what Jerry had been referring to in his letter when he said he broke Penelope?
The woman in front of me didn’t seem broken. Haunted yes but not broken. Why did I feel like Jerry had been the one used by her and not the other way around?
“You self sabotaged your relationship with Reid simply because you were scared to commit to him,” I said my voice tight with anger. “What kind of person does that?”
Penelope shrugged, her shoulders barely lifting and her eyes averted.
“I never said I was a good person.”