He laughed and shook his head back and forth. “God, all you do is lie. You’re leaving me, right? That’s what this is?”
“No.”
“And you needed money before you left me?” he said like he hadn’t even heard what I had just said. “So you could run away with him?”
“What? No.” I wanted to laugh. This whole thing was ridiculous. “I don’t love Tyler. I don’t want to be with Tyler. And we’re certainly not running away together. James…”
“Then why did you transfer 20 million dollars into Tyler’s bank account?”
“I didn’t.” I transferred it to Isabella’s account. Fuck. That bitch set me up. “I didn’t.” My voice sounded so small. Oh God, no. My whole body felt cold.
“Yes you did. At 4 o’clock you transferred 20 million dollars of my money to Tyler Stevens’ bank account.”
“No. James.” I could hear the desperation in my voice. “This isn’t what you think.”
“Stop it.” He ran his hands through his hair again. “Isabella knew. That’s why you didn’t want me to talk to her. She knew you didn’t love me. She knew you just wanted my money.”
“I do love you. I love you so much.”
“But not as much as you love him? Penny, I trusted you.”
“Then trust me now. We’re being blackmailed.”
“Just stop!” His voice was so loud. “Who the fuck would blackmail you into giving my money to Tyler?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Because the answer is no one! Your lie doesn’t even make any sense.”
He didn’t believe me. “We are being blackmailed. I just can’t tell you by who or they’ll leak…”
“Photos of us having sex? Yeah, I heard you the first time. I need some air.” He walked past me. He stumbled slightly and caught himself on one of the stools in the kitchen.
I had only ever seen him this drunk once before after hanging out with Rob back in Newark. “You can’t leave. You’re drunk. Please just sit down.”
“Like you care.”
“I do care.”
“What because you love me?” he scoffed. “No one loves me. Keep the money. Just get the fuck out of my house.”
“James.” I put my hand on his arm.
He recoiled from me, like my touch caused him pain. “Leave.” His voice was firm.
“I’m not leaving until you listen to me.”
“Go be with Tyler. Go be happy. That’s all I ever wanted. For you to be happy.”
“You make me happy.”
“Please just go.” He wiped his hand underneath his eyes. I had never seen James cry. It killed me. He was crying because he thought I didn’t love him. It felt like my heart was breaking.
“Those pictures aren’t what they seem. I don’t love Tyler. I love you. I love everything about you. This whole thing is just a misunderstanding.”
He pulled out a few more pictures from his pocket. “Like this?” He slammed the picture down on the counter. It was of me touching that random guy’s abs at the bar. “Or this?” He slammed down the picture of Austin kissing me.
“They’re like the ones of Tyler. They were taken out of context. It was my bachelorette party. There was this list of stupid stuff my friends made me do. And Austin kissed me. I shoved him off right away. Isabella made him…”
“Just save it. I don’t care, Penny. You’re not my problem anymore.”
“Problem? Is that what I’ve always been? Just something you had to take care of?”
He shook his head. “You certainly can’t take care of yourself. You’re immature. And selfish. And ungrateful.”
“Ungrateful for what? This house that I didn’t want? Because I don’t like spending your money?”
“I try to give you everything and you always pretended like you didn’t want it. You played me.”
“I didn’t play you. I don’t care about your money. And this?” I picked up the picture he had of Austin kissing me. “I trusted you when you kissed Isabella. All I’m asking is for you to do the same. She orchestrated the pictures. You can’t believe anything she says.”
“But the money? Explain that to me. Just tell me who’s blackmailing us.” He put the word blackmail in air quotes.
My phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my purse and looked down at the text:
“Don’t you dare. All I have to do is press enter.”
“What could possibly be more important than this conversation, Penny? Unless it’s him?”
“It’s not Tyler.” Isabella must have cameras in here. She’s been watching us this whole time. “You know this isn’t about Tyler. You know that. We’re just friends.”
He shook his head. “You stole from me. For him. And you don’t even have an explanation.”
“I didn’t steal. You said what’s yours is mine.”
“Come on, Penny. That’s just something people say. And I don’t know what love is. Obviously. We’re calling the wedding off just in time. Because I just liked fucking you. That’s all I know. I need another drink.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“I do. You have a great body. But clearly you’re a shitty person. You’re ugly on the inside. I see that now.” He grabbed a glass from the cabinet. “I’ll find another ten to keep the bed warm. Don’t you worry about that.”
“You’re just lashing out. Stop saying things just because you’re upset…”
“I mean every word that I’ve said. Go to hell, Penny.”
“You’re such an asshole.” Yes, I couldn’t explain the missing money to him. But there was no reason for him to say that he never loved me. That I was ugly on the inside.
“Sure.” He unscrewed the cap to the scotch and took a sip straight from the bottle. “I’m the asshole.”
“Yeah, you are.” I pulled off the lid to the box I had left on the counter. “Because you still talk to Rachel.” I threw the pictures at him. “And cheated on me during your bachelor party.” I threw the rest of the pictures at him, the ones of him fucking some random girl and kissing Isabella in his office. “And you loved Isabella. You lied to me. And maybe you still do love her. You left her millions of notes saying how much you loved her. You never left me love letters. You told me you were forced to marry her. That you never loved her. And talking about having children with her? Jesus, James. You never wanted that life with me. So now I know why. Because you just liked fucking me. You never loved me. You’re a liar and a cheat.”
“Have you been following me?” He held up the picture of Rachel. “What is wrong with you?”