Page 77 of How to Play the Player

“We built nothing together.” Her filter finally falters, anger flashing in her eyes. “You’d always waltz into the office with your perfect smile and your perfect hair and your perfect boyfriend, and clients just fell at your feet. Do you have any idea what that was like for me?”

Nathan stands beside me, his presence clearly aggravating her further. “So you decided to spy on her? To sabotage her and steal private information?”

Bethany’s eyes snap to him, filled with undisguised contempt. “Oh, look—Mr. Knight himself, riding to your rescue. How gallant of you, considering you abandoned her at the first sign of trouble.”

Her attention turns back to me, something dangerous flickering in her gaze as she stands. “You had everything handed to you, Quinn. The looks, the charm, the wealthy boyfriend from the prominent family. You didn’t even have to try, and everyone loved you. Everyone wants to work with Quinn Sanders, the golden girl, the favorite one.”

I watch her carefully, recognizing the eruption of long-suppressed jealousy. “Is that what this was about? You…you were jealous of me?”

“Jealous?” She practically spits the word in my face. “I was sick of standing in your shadow! Watching you float through life while I worked and schemed and fought for every scrap of recognition from our clients. You didn’t deserve any of it—the success, the clients, Nathan. None of it!” She’s yelling at this point.

“So you sabotaged me?” The pieces are beginning to finally fall into place. “You ruined my life, my reputation, my relationship, my career—all because you were jealous?”

“You never played fair! So I took what was rightfully mine.” Her voice rises to a higher volume. There’s nothing left of herbut pure rage as she steps closer to me. Nathan tries to pull me behind him, but I shake my head.

Bethany continues. “When I saw a chance to finally put you in your place, where your personal and professional life belonged, I took it. And it was beautiful to watch the beautiful, wonderful Quinn Sanders, the woman that had always been a thorn in my side, brought down overnight.”

The venom in her voice stuns me. Did I have rose-colored glasses on for so long that I didn’t see this side of her? I knew we had a toxic dynamic, but I never thought it’d be this deep between us.

“Your laptop was always there,” she continues, a twisted pride entering her tone. “Always open, always available. You made it so easy for me to put that program on there. Do you know how simple it was to see everything you did? Hear everything you said? Watch your every move?”

Nathan’s voice is tight with controlled anger. “You were watching us when I told Quinn about the NorthStar deal in her apartment.”

An even crueler smile spreads across Bethany’s face. “That was like catching lighting in a bottle for me. I have to personally thank you for that little tidbit, Nathan. The CEO’s brother, spilling company secrets right in Quinn’s living room. And all I had to do was make sure the story went all over the internet, made it to the right journalists, and all from her computer.” Her gaze shifts to me, triumph gleaming in her eyes. “I’ll admit, your boyfriend really helped me out with his posts on social media against you.”

The calculated malice of her confession hurts. “You deliberately set me up to take the fall.”

“And it went off like clockwork!” She doesn’t even try to hide her satisfaction now. “You should’ve seen yourself afterward—so confused, so broken. Your perfect life was crumbling. Your precious Knight wanting nothing to do with you.”

“That’s when you said we should go our separate ways professionally.”

“I had it all planned out. I’d take your clients and run the business you initially started into massive success. But then your clients said they’d rather work with you than me. So I simply provided some…enlightening information about you.”

“You manipulated them into working with you.” I’m shocked by her actions.

She nods. “Hearing through the grapevine that you’re struggling truly made my year.”

“And the article about Jonathan and Kiera?” Nathan asks, his voice calm but filled with some trepidation.

“You think I’d just stand by and watch you rebuild everything that didn’t belong to you in the first place?” Her laugh makes my skin crawl. “When I found out you’d landed the Knight Industries CEO as a client, I couldn’t believe it. Quinn Sanders, rising from the ashes, walking right back into the world she lost.”

“How dare you!” I yell at her.

She continues unbothered. “I was still watching you through that laptop. I saw the meeting at their house—all those intimate details about their love story just handed to me on a silver platter. It was too perfect to pass up.”

She leans forward, voice dropping to a near whisper. “There was no way in hell I was going to let you have a happy ending. That I’d watch you succeed on your own, rebuild your reputation, maybe even win him back.” She nods toward Nathan. “I had to remind everyone who she truly is. I had to make sure she stayed where she belonged—alone and with nothing.”

Her casual cruelty leaves me momentarily speechless. The depth of her hatred, the methodical way she’d worked to destroy me.

I stay silent for a long moment. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes. But I hold them back. She’s not worth wasting them on. “Was any of our friendship, our partnership, real? Or was it all just part of your plan?”

Something shifts in her expression. A glimpse resembling what once might have been genuine feeling. But it’s quickly gone again.

“Business is business, Quinn. Nothing personal. But I will say, watching you fall apart twice has been exceptionally satisfying.”

“Except itwaspersonal,” I point out to her.

“Yeah, well, you left me with no choice.”

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