Page 88 of Ruin Me
I froze at the mention of the plan Duncan had for Lola.
“Mmm, the look on your face right now is so delicious.” She inhaled as if she could smell a mouth-watering aroma and sucking it in nourished her.
“They didn’t have an affair. That motherfucker raped my wife, and you’re admitting you sent him to do it.”
“Rape? Are you sure Oyingugu?—”
“Her name is Oyinlola!” I stepped away, trying to cool my temper. Although I hated everything coming out of her mouth, the darkness inside me compelled me to know every vile thing this woman masterminded while I lived my life in ignorance.
“Whatever. Are you sure she didn’t lie to cover up the truth? She was a whore who begged Duncan for sex. He gave her what you failed to provide. It was only natural for her to seek what she lacked at home.”
“I don’t need to defend my wife to the likes of you. Even on her worst day, she was more beautiful and worthy than you on your best.”
“Is that why it took you so long to get over her? Because she was so good? Or because she destroyed your trust?” Paulina raised her chin to look down at me from her position.
She failed. I would never be beneath a woman like her.
“For those first few months, while you walked around with the most pitiful, heartbroken expression on your face because your poor wife was no more, I was on cloud nine. Then you buried yourself in your work and tripled your success. SuccessI as your rightful wife should have shared. I should have been beside you, lording my status over Douglas society, but you never saw me. No, you started your fuckboy phase with all those empty-headed bimbos.”
“Was your cousin, Carol, a bimbo?”
“That girl.” Paulina snorted. “Her family couldn’t handle her. She was always going off her meds and causing problems. Well, I don’t have to tell you about the trouble she brings.”
“What did you promise her to damage my reputation?”
“That’s the beauty of my gullible cousin. I promised her nothing. I just had to show her a picture of you after she’d been off her meds for a month. Had her singingNothing Compares 2 Uon repeat. She was so far gone that I only had to mention those other women to convince her to work with Hal. Carol terrorized those women until Hal ended their suffering. They were such a good team.” Paulina eyed me up and down with a sneer marring her mouth. “At least they were before your new plaything entered the picture.”
“Do you even care Hal killed Carol?”
“He did what was necessary. Carol wasn’t made to live life on the run. It was only time before someone connected her with her real identity and then to me. I couldn’t have that.”
“And my daughter? She’s innocent in all this. Why did Hal have a folder in his murder files with her name on it?”
Paulina rolled her eyes. “No one around you is innocent, least of all the spawn of that whore. You know, Hal and I discussed when and how to end her life to maximize the blow to you. My vote was while you were out on bail, but you know what happened with that. Then the asshole had to go and get caught. Regardless, there’s always someone willing to do anything for the right price.”
“I still don’t understand. Hal worked for me for years. What did you promise him to turn on me?”
“Your company. There is a sweet irony in enthroning the person who hated you as much as I do as the successor to everything you built, knowing he would run your company into the ground while you sat behind bars unable to do shit about it. All because that man has an unchecked ego without the skill to back it up.”
“But your plans didn’t stop with my company and my daughter. You put a target on Madison.”
“She was the prize I didn’t know I needed.” At my confused frown, she laughed. “You shouldn’t have brought her to that charity gala, Kent. God, the look on your face. I hadn’t seen that expression since Oyingugu.”
My phone dinged, stopping me from unleashing all my rage and choking her to death. Although I could ignore the message, I needed the distraction. I left her and walked out while dialing the number in the text.
“What happened?”
“Mr. Luxe, while Ms. Montgomery was out today, I thwarted an assailant.” The man was the undercover guard I kept from Madison.
I continued walking until I got to my car. “Does Madison know about him?”
“Not yet. Should I inform her?”
Madison’s face from the night she admitted her terror while inside Hal’s home rose in my mind. “No. Madison doesn’t know about you, and the knowledge will only scare her. Where is the man now?”
“I have him out of sight. He said someone hired him to abduct her.”
“Bring him to me. I have a few questions I’d like to ask him in person.” I took padlocks and steel chains from my trunk and re-entered the run-down building.