Chapter 78 SEVENTY-EIGHT
One week had passed since Victor's veiled threat at the gala. Seven days of Lennox jumping at every phone notification, expecting the story to break any moment, of pretending everything was fine while the walls closed in.
Maria had returned from her vacation that morning, breezing into the penthouse with shopping bags from Paris and stories about the Louvre that Lennox barely heard. She'd smiled and nodded at appropriate moments, made coffee and asked polite questions, all while her mind spun through worst case scenarios.
"You seem distracted," Maria said, setting down her cup. "Everything okay?"
"Just tired. Haven't been sleeping well."
"Mr. Westbrook mentioned you've been busy. Working on a project?"
"Something like that."
Maria studied her face with concern. "You know, I've worked for this family a long time. Seen a lot of things. If you need someone to talk to, someone who isn't caught up in all the business drama, I'm here."
Lennox felt her throat tighten at the unexpected kindness. "Thank you. That means a lot."
"I mean it. You look like you're carrying the weight of the world. Whatever it is, it'll work out. These things always do."
She wished she could believe that.
Cole's text came at eleven. We got him. Come to my place now.
Her hands went cold holding her phone. Jake. They'd found Jake.
She told Maria she had to run an errand, grabbed her keys with shaking hands. The drive to Cole's apartment felt surreal, like she was floating outside her body watching someone else navigate the traffic.
Cole opened the door before she could knock. His face was drawn, tension visible in the set of his shoulders. "He's in the living room. My investigators picked him up this morning in Williamsburg."
"How is he?"
"See for yourself."
Jake sat on Cole's couch looking like he'd aged ten years. His clothes hung off him like he'd lost significant weight, dark circles under bloodshot eyes, hands shaking slightly as he held a cup of coffee. He looked up when she walked in and his face crumpled completely.
"Lennox." Her name came out broken, choked. "God, Lennox, I'm so sorry."
Everything she'd been holding back for months rose up in her throat like bile. "You're sorry?"
"I know I don't deserve to even talk to you, I know what I did was unforgivable but I've been living with this guilt and I just need you to know that I never meant for things to get that bad. I thought, I don't know what I thought but I'm so sorry."
"You're sorry." She took a step toward him, her hands clenched into fists. "You destroyed my entire life and you're sorry? Do you have any idea what you did to me?"
"I know, I was weak and desperate and..."
"Weak? You were weak?" Her voice rose despite herself. "I had criminal charges, Jake. I was going to prison. Do you understand that? Actual prison because you decided your gambling debts were more important than my life."
He flinched, looked down at his hands. "I know."
"No you don't know! You ran away, you disappeared and left me to deal with everything alone. I lost my job, my reputation, my entire future because you needed money for your goddamn poker games."
Cole touched her arm gently. "Lennox."
She shook him off, couldn't stop now that she'd started. "I trusted you. I loved you and you used that, you used my passwords and my access and you framed me for something I didn't do. How could you do that to someone you supposedly cared about?"
"I was scared." Jake's voice was small. "The people I owed money to, they were threatening me and I panicked. When Victor offered me a way out I just, I took it without thinking about what it would do to you."
"Without thinking." She laughed but there was no humor in it. "You thought about it. You had to think about it every single time you logged into my account, every time you moved money around to make me look guilty. You thought about it and you did it anyway."
Tears were streaming down his face now. "You're right. You're completely right. I'm a coward and I destroyed you to save myself. I've been living with that guilt every single day."
"Good. I hope it destroys you the way you destroyed me."
"I deserve that. I deserve worse than that." He looked up at her, his eyes red and swollen. "But I want to make it right. I'll testify, I'll tell everyone what really happened. I'll spend the rest of my life trying to fix what I broke."
"You can't fix it, Jake. What's done is done."
"I know but maybe if we, if there's any way we could..." He trailed off, his expression shifting to something almost hopeful. "Maybe after all this is over we could talk? Really talk? I made a terrible mistake but what we had was real and maybe..."
She stared at him, disbelief flooding through her. "Are you serious right now?"
"I just mean that I still care about you. I never stopped caring about you even when I was hiding. Maybe if you could forgive me eventually we could..."
"Get back together?" Her voice was sharp, cutting. "That's what you're asking? After everything you did to me, you think there's a chance we could just pick up where we left off?"
"I, I don't know. I just thought maybe..."
"You thought wrong." She moved closer, her jaw clenched. "You don't get to do this. You don't get to ruin my life and then act like we can just work through it like a normal breakup. This isn't about forgiveness or second chances. This is about you being so selfish that even now, even after admitting what you did, you're still thinking about what you want."
"I'm not, I didn't mean it like that."
"Yes you did. You absolutely meant it like that." Her hands were shaking, her whole body tense with anger. "You want redemption? You want to feel better about yourself? That's what this is about. Not actually making things right, just easing your guilt so you can move on."
"That's not fair."
"Fair? You want to talk about fair?" She laughed, the sound bitter. "I'm married now, Jake. I married someone else because you left me with no other options. So whatever fantasy you've been living in where we somehow end up back together, you can forget it right now."
His face went white. "You're married?"
"Yes. To someone who actually cares about me, who treats me like I matter." Even as she said it, guilt twisted in her stomach because she'd been lying to Callum too. But that was different. That had to be different.
Jake's shoulders slumped, his hands falling to his sides. "I didn't know."
"Of course you didn't know. You weren't here. You ran away and left me to pick up the pieces of the mess you made." She took a breath, tried to steady herself. "So no, Jake. We're not going to talk after this. We're not going to reconnect or work through our issues or any of that. You're going to give your testimony, help us take down the man who used you, and then you're going to stay out of my life forever. That's the only way you make this right."
"Okay." His voice was barely audible. "Okay. I understand."
Cole had been standing quietly in the corner, letting her say what she needed to say. Now he stepped forward. "Jake, why don't you tell us exactly what happened. From the beginning. Everything Victor told you to do."