Page 29 of Sweet Surrender
But then…
“But they knew about…” I trailed off, not wanting to mention my ex infront of him. The little alarm in my head was now screaming at me to keep my guard up.
Something was wrong.
Really wrong.
“Liam Olsen?” Nash said, taking the name out of my mouth anyway.
My brain began spinning chaotically, and I struggled to keep up withthis sudden turn of events.
What in the hell was happening?
“How…how do you know about Liam?” I asked, the question slippingunbidden from my mouth.
“Because he owes me $250,000,” Nash replied casually, making myjaw hit the floor once again. “Or, I should say,youowe me $250,000.”
What. The. Fuck.
“Excuse me?” I said, my voice raising by several octaves. “I don’t oweyou shit.”
“Like I said, we have a lot to discuss, so please, come and sit down,”he replied, not fazed by my growing frustration.
Much like it had done four months ago, the feeling of my world being ripped to shreds began to consume me.It didn’t cross my mind for one second that he could be lying.Liam had proven time and time again that he was more than capable of setting me up, and although I thought I’d discovered all of his betrayals, it wasn’t coming as a complete shock thatthere was yet more to it.
“I don’t want to sit down, thank you very much,” I snapped. “This conversation is done. I don’t owe you money, Liam does-”
“So this isn’t your signature on this contract?” Nash said, interruptingme as my rant started to gain momentum.
He reached for the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper, holdingit out for me to see. Unable to resist, and with a shaky hand, I reached out and snatched it from his grasp.
My eyes raked over the contract between the ‘lender’, Carson-FoxResorts, and the ‘borrower’, Liam Olsen, for a loan of $250,000. It was signed by Nash himself, followed by Liam’s signature.
Underneath Liam’s signature were words that made my heart race toan impossible speed.
‘The guarantor agrees to repay any monies the borrower fails topay at the specified time, including interest.’
And whose signature was there in black ink agreeing to act asguarantor?
“I didn’t sign this,” I snarled, thrusting the paper back at Nash, whowas still sitting with his leg crossed over the other, acting as cool as a fucking cucumber.
“So this isn’t your signature?” he repeated calmly, pulling out anotherpiece of paper and placing it down on the table next to where he had laid the contract.
The new piece of paper was a copy of my driver’s license, thesignature of course matched that of the guarantor.
“Yes, that’s my signature!” I bellowed, flinging my hands in the air andunable to hold my temper any longer. “But I didn’t sign your fucking contract! Liam faked my signature on a whole load of loans and credit card agreements and disappeared with the money. Clearly, he’s done the same to you. I suggest if you want your money back, you go and find Liam. And when you find him, tell him from me that he’s a real piece of shit!”
I started pacing, needing to move and expel the energy buildingunderneath my skin. Fucking Liam. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, this happened.
“You can tell him yourself if you like,” Nash said, sitting back furtherin the chair, a superior smile on his annoyingly handsome face.
“Oh, I’d love nothing more than to give that bastard a piece of mymind!” I yelled, trying to stop angry sobs from breaking free. “No one knows where he is though, he’s disappeared off the face of the damn earth, leaving me toclear up his mess.”
I trailed off and stopped pacing, my shoulders slumping in defeat.Now that the shock was wearing off, the same old feeling of helplessness was beginning to rear its ugly head.
All I’d ever done was love Liam. I’d given him my heart, and I thoughtI had his. How could he do this to me? To us? I squeezed my eyes shut and started rubbing my fingers in circles against my temple to ease the pressure building in my head.
“I know where he is,” Nash said coolly, causing my eyes to snapopen.
