Fuck.
The door flew open and she called my name. “Cox?”
I set my drink down, surprised at the urgency in her voice.
“Cox? Where are you?” Her shoes clicked on the wood floor as she marched into the kitchen.
The fury in her eyes almost made me flinch away. What the fuck was she so angry about?
“What the hell is this?” She held up a thick envelope. “Are you kidding me? I thought we would at least have a conversation, you know, like grown-ups. Grown-ups who have been sleeping together.”
“What are you talking about?”
“There are other ways to do this. You didn’t have to serve me at work. I looked it up when we first got back from Vegas. We could have just filed together. You didn’t have to blindside me with it.”
“Sophie, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“The divorce paperwork. I knew we’d have to deal with it soon, so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. But I didn’t think it would be like this. It’s so cold and impersonal.” Her lower lip trembled and she swiped a tear from beneath her eye. “I thought we’d at least talk about it first.”
The divorce paperwork? What was she… Oh, shit. Althea. She’d said she’d take care of everything. After what she’d told me about Sophie, she must have assumed I’d want this over with as quickly as possible.
Well, it had been inevitable anyway. Maybe it was best that it was done.
“There’s not much to talk about, is there?”
“So that’s it? Just like that, it’s over?”
I glanced down. It was hard to meet her eyes. I didn’t want to have to say this to her. “Sophie, I know about the money.”
“What money?”
“Let’s not do this, okay? I know.”
“Cox, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know that you took money to pay off your debts when I was in Houston. And I know you’ve been withdrawing from my account ever since.”
“What?”
“Look, I don’t want to make this worse for you. You shouldn’t have done it, but I won’t turn you in. I’ll let it go. Just get your shit out of my house.”
“But I didn’t. I didn’t take any of your money. I swear.”
“Then how is all your debt magically paid off?”
“It’s not. In fact, I think I’m late on most of my payments because I keep forgetting to get the mail at my apartment.”
Something in her voice made me snap. I fucking loved this girl, and she was going to stand here and keep lying to me? I grabbed my whiskey and smashed the glass on the floor. “Goddammit, Sophie. Why the fuck didn’t you just ask me? I would have given it to you. If you were so far in debt, why didn’t you just tell me?”
She stared at me, her eyes wide, still flashing with anger. “Because I couldn’t. It’s humiliating enough that I can’t afford to help my dad find a better house. You saw my horrible apartment. You saw how I live. You think I want to talk about that? You think I want to tell a man like you, who’s swimming in money, how even though I have a great job, I basically have nothing? How I have to ration every dollar so I can afford to go out with my friends or take my dad out to eat once in a while? How the only reason I could afford that trip to Vegas was because it was for work and the company paid for everything?”
“A lot of people get themselves in trouble. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“No, in my case, I’m absolutely ashamed of it.” Tears overflowed her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. “My ex-boyfriend did this to me, and I was stupid enough to let it happen. He took out loans and opened credit cards in my name. Tons of them. He maxed them out and then stuck me with all of it, and I didn’t know until it was too late. By then, he’d already ghosted me. Not long after he disappeared, bill collectors started calling. Constantly. It’s been a total nightmare for the last three years. And it’s all because I trusted him when I shouldn’t have. So no, I didn’t tell you, for the same reason I’ve never told anyone—not my dad or my friends. Because it’s humiliating.”
Broken glass glinted on the kitchen floor. I had no idea what to say to her.
“I didn’t take your money.” She took a shaky breath. “I don’t know how to prove to you that I didn’t, but I would never, ever do something like that. God, I wouldn’t even know how.”
I wanted to believe her. I wanted it so fucking badly. But why would Althea accuse her if she wasn’t sure?
“The dates your loans were paid off are all when I was out of town. When you were here, with access to my office. And one of my debit cards is missing. The same debit card that someone’s been using to make withdrawals at ATMs near your office.”
She tucked the envelope in her handbag and pulled out her phone. “Here, I’ll show you. This is one of the credit card accounts and the balance is still…” Her brow furrowed. “How is that possible?”
“It’s paid off, isn’t it? Goddammit, Sophie, just be fucking honest with me.”
“How did…” She stared at her phone. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it wasn’t me.”
I didn’t want Althea to be right. But she’d handed me the evidence. And Sophie didn’t have an explanation, other than I didn’t do it.
She put her phone away and met my gaze, her eyes still shining with tears. “You actually think I’m capable of this.”
“No, I don’t, but what the fuck am I supposed to think?”
“You’re supposed to believe me. I’m your—” She snapped her mouth shut, but her unspoken word sliced through me.
I’m your wife.
“Sophie—”
“No. I’m not and I never was. I should have remembered that.” She pulled a large manila envelope out of her handbag and set it on the counter. “I don’t even know if I should give this to you. But if I didn’t, it would just be to hurt you back, and I don’t want to be that girl. Dominic Coates met with Mr. Calloway today. He set up the meeting to find out what Dominic’s been doing behind your back. We got these from him. He’s working with Althea. They’re going to try to take your company so they can sell Skyline. I’m sorry I was right about her. I didn’t want to be.”
Grinding my teeth together, I stared at the envelope.
Althea was…
That meant…
Oh fuck.
“Oh my god, Sophie.”
“I can’t really deal with getting all my stuff right now,” she choked out through more tears. “And I’ll get the divorce paperwork done as soon as I can, but I have to go.”
“Sophie, no. Please don’t—”
But she whipped around and ran off. The door slammed behind her.
The crushing weight on my chest was back with a vengeance. What the fuck had I done? I crunched through the broken glass to the envelope she’d left and slid the stack of paperwork out.
For a second, I couldn’t get a breath in. My throat closed tight and my lungs seemed to have collapsed. The words on the pages blurred as I flipped through them.