Page 57 of Legal Seduction
“So you must believe Ronan—about Muriel.”
He tensed now. “Is she your friend?”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” And now he was suspicious. Could he have been wrong about her? Had she conned him after all?
“Do I know all your friends?” she asked.
He chuckled. “Yeah, you probably do.”
Her face flushed.
“Why didn’t you introduce me to any of your friends?” he wondered. “Were you embarrassed to be dating me?”
He hadn’t considered it until now. But it made sense that she might be, considering their practice had hurt one of her friends.
“I didn’t know what we were doing,” she said. “And I didn’t expect it to last as long as it has.”
“No,” he agreed. “That was why you started it so I would release you early from your two-week notice.” So she had conned him. “Was your contract with the fashion house your only reason for leaving Street Legal?”
“No,” she admitted. “I don’t respect the way you do business. The way you and that PR company obliterated Muriel.”
He sighed. It hadn’t been pretty. He couldn’t deny that. “Ronan had witnesses. He had proof. It was the truth.”
She didn’t argue that, just replied, “It wasn’t fair.”
“If you want to win, you can’t always fight fair,” he said.
“Winning shouldn’t be that important,” she said. “It shouldn’t be at the expense of other people.”
“When we win, someone else loses,” he said. “That’s life, Bette.”
“That’s your life,” she said. “And I don’t want any part of it anymore.”
He didn’t think she was talking about just her job now. “Bette...”
But she wouldn’t look at him. Instead she was looking down at her wrist and the thin gold watch on it. “My two weeks are up,” she said. “I never have to see you again.”
She didn’t have to. But did she want to?
“And Ronan can threaten as much as he wants,” she continued, “but he’s never going to find any evidence that I’m the mole. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
He knew he was wrong to have doubted her again, even for a moment. Hell, he’d been wrong to ever doubt her. She was no con artist.
“Except get involved with you,” she continued. “That was stupid. I should have known it would bring me nothing but pain.”
He had hurt her with his doubts and suspicions. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Why?” she asked. “You won. So it doesn’t matter if the other person gets hurt, right?” She must not have cared what he really thought, though, because she didn’t wait for his reply. She ran to the door, unlocked and dragged it open, then she ran out of his office.
And out of his life...
So Simon couldn’t tell her what he’d just realized. He hadn’t won. In fact, for the first time in his life, he’d lost. He’d lost her...forever.
* * *
Bette stared down at her sketch pad, but the page was blank. She hadn’t felt very inspired the past couple of days, not since she’d run out of Simon Kramer’s office and out of Street Legal.
