Page 108 of A Real Good Bad Thing
“Yeah, me too,” I said, dryly.
“I feel so betrayed by Clarissa though. I gave her a job when she couldn’t find one. Then I found out she couldn’t get a job because she was wanted for burglary. That was when I suspected she was the one trying to steal the jewels.” He shook his head sadly. “Maybe now that she’s been arrested, you’ll get it back.”
“What about the diamonds from your car?”
Eli and Willow laughed in tandem, and Eli answered, “Those are fake, of course. The real ones are safe and sound and so well hidden that no one will figure it out. I wouldn’t put real diamonds in a car trunk. But I had to make it easy for Clarissa to steal them. I had a feeling she was following you, and I’d been dropping hints that the diamonds were in the Audi.”
“You loaned me the car to use me as bait?” Another gut punch. He’d used me. Some tiny part of me had thought that, no matter what his crimes, he still felt a little bit of affection after he’d helped raise me. “You didn’t care about my safety at all?”
But he waved off my implied worry and Willow cut in to reassure me, “Darling, you needed good AC, and of course we knew Clarissa wouldn’t hurt you. She’s a nice girl who just needed money.”
“She’s a nice girl who’s wanted for a felony!”
“Now, now,” tutted Eli. “Don’t get hysterical, honey.”
The pair swilled champagne and basked in their happy outcome while my world had been turned inside out. I hadn’t even made it to Wonderland yet. I was still falling down the rabbit hole.
One thing was clear—Eli was capable of anything.
“Were you really planning to offer Mom alimony?” I demanded.
“Hmm. When did I say that?” he asked, ignoring the frown that Willow cut his way.
“At lunch!” I said, my voice rising as I sensed him erecting his Teflon wall. “It was only yesterday. You said you wanted to be more fair to her. You told me that.”
“I’m sure I never mentioned alimony.”
I opened my mouth to protest that yes, he had, but immediately realized that he hadn’t—he was too slippery for that. Of course, he’d curved around commitment like a snake. Danced out of danger that he might have to do the right thing.
Willow made a showy little grimace of distaste. “Eli wouldn’t have discussed money matters in public. That would be tacky.”
This from the woman who went into raptures about sex-toy party favors.
Eli just nodded in agreement. “We keep our financial affairs private.”
That. Was. It.
I’d lost millions of dollars in fake diamonds, broken up with my almost boyfriend, and shattered my last illusion that the man who’d raised me cared about me in the depths of the slimeball he had in place of a heart.
“Private?”I asked, stretching the word with sarcasm. “You mean like defrauding your investors—that kind of private? Skimming the Eli Fund accounts? Private like that?”
Willow’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and whipped over to Eli. Then, like that move wasn’t a neon “we are guilty” sign, she mouthed silently to her fiancée,You told her?
He’d fucking done it. He’d done the thing. He’d never deserved my reasonable doubt.
Worse, he’d get away with it. I had no evidence. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had stolen the only real diamond I’d had in my possession.
And, I realized, the only chance I had to come away from this with money for Mom.
Later, I was sure the disappointment would hit me. The disillusionment. The dejection. Right then, I was livid and hurt.
Eli, oblivious to my riot of emotion, simply patted Willow’s hand and said, “Don’t worry yourself. Ruby is family.” Refilling both their champagne glasses, he pointed to my untouched one then raised his in a toast. “Let’s celebrate. The diamonds are safe, the thieves have been caught, and you helped us. And don’t worry about your diamond. If the police don’t recover it, I’ll buy you another one.”
“I don’t want another diamond. I don’t want a diamond at all. That’s the last thing I want.” My head felt stuffed with cotton. I had to get out of there, far away from him.
I stumbled out the door. Jake was right—I was too open and trusting. My instincts were totally off.
54