The Ex Games 3 (The Ex Games #3)(21)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“You are to leave and never come back.” I looked down at her and whispered, “If I ever see you again, I will ruin your brother’s life. I will make sure he is fired from the Wall Street Journal and is never employed by another newspaper in New York again.”

“You wouldn’t do that.” Her face paled at my words. I knew I had hit a sore spot. She loved her brother Matt more than anyone in the world.

“Don’t test me.” I pushed her toward the door. “Leave now.”

“What about Harry?” She looked at me with big eyes. “He’ll miss me.”

“You will never see him again.” I clenched my fists as I thought about all the times I’d left him alone with her. I wanted to punch myself for being so blind as to how crazy she was.

“But you love me, Brandon,” she whimpered. “You wanted to marry me.”

“Maria.” My voice rose and she ran out of the room. I followed her out and watched as she exited before slowly going back into the room. “I guess I’ll have to change the locks,” I joked as I re-entered the study, but Katie didn’t smile.

I stood there, not knowing what to say or where to start.

“I guess we should talk.” I cleared my throat and stared at her. I was surprised to see that she wasn’t crying. “I’m sorry for lying.”

“One lie begets another lie, I suppose.” Her face was expressionless, and my heart froze at the lack of emotion in her tone. I could have dealt with angry, jealousy, or hurt, but her lack of caring scared me.

“I didn’t mean to lie.” I sighed. “I really didn’t want her. I never loved her.”

“You slept with her while you were with me?” Katie looked at me curiously. “So you cheated on me?”

“Never.” I shook my head vehemently. “It was after.”

“After what?”

“We broke up.” I took a deep breath. “It was the day you gave Harry up.”

“What?” She frowned at me. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“The day you gave Harry up was the day I realized you were never coming back to me. It was the day I realized you hated me so much that you would have our child and give him up for adoption and never even tell me that I had a son.” I stared at her through bleak eyes. “I hated you so much on that day. I hated you and I hated me and I resorted to something I’m not proud of.”

“But she blackmailed you.” She looked at me with a dazed confession. “Why would you sleep with her?

“Because I hated her as much as I hated myself.” I shrugged. “I just needed a body—bodies. I just needed to be out of myself. To forget you and what we’d had. I needed to be with someone and use their body without care for their feelings.”

“You did that to me as well.” Her voice was soft.

“Never, Katie. I’ve never used you.” I shook my head. “I love you.”

“You don’t know the meaning of love.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “All these years, I’ve been berating myself for doing something so stupid, for lying and losing the love of my life, but I think I should have been congratulating myself. I wasn’t dumb. I was smart. You’re crazy. You’re self-obsessed. You only care about yourself. You’re not capable of love.”

“I love Harry, Katie. I’m a good father.” My voice was terse.

“Yes.” She nodded slowly. “You’re a good father. A very good father.”

“Can you forgive me, Katie?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.” She shrugged. “We both made mistakes. I think it’s time we moved on. I want to be in Harry’s life if you let me. I want him to know me as his mother.”

“You’re not going to run away?” I looked at her consideringly. “Now that you know everything, you’re not going to leave and never look back like you did seven years ago?”

“No.” She looked at me with clear eyes and smiled weakly. “I love my son. I won’t ever leave him again. I’m not going to back down this time. I’m not going anywhere.”

I fell back against the wall and burst into tears. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that everything was working out the way I had dreamed it would. Katie stared at me in shock, and I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms, kissing the top of her head.

“What are you doing?” She pulled away from me. “Stop it. What’s going on, Brandon?”

I walked back to the TV and turned it on again. “Look at the screen,” I told her. “Look very carefully.”

She looked at me in shock, and I pointed at the image of me.

“Look at the face. Look carefully, Katie.” She stared at the screen for a few minutes and gasped.

“That’s not you.” Her face turned ashen as she realized the truth. “What is going on? That’s not you!”

“Matt helped me put this video together.” I walked over to her and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go upstairs.” We walked upstairs to my bedroom and I took her to sit down on the bed. “Maria went crazy when I ended things with her. He called me to warn me that he thought she was going to do something crazy. We have this video because, when I refused to pay Denise a dime, she hired someone who was my lookalike to pretend he was me. She took him to my apartment when I was out of town and set up a secret camera to record it. This was going to be her proof to the world.” I shook my head. “I told you, she was crazy.”

“How did you get it?” Katie looked like she didn’t quite believe me.

“Matt got wind of it from a reporter he knows.” I shrugged. “He pretended to be an interested reporter, bought the video, and made her sign non-disclosure papers. It’s been locked up for years, but Maria found it recently and well, I guess she decided to try and use it against me.”

“That’s crazy.” Katie looked down at her lap, and I knew that now was the time that I had to let her know how I felt and what was in my heart.

"It’s always been you, Katie. Don’t you realize that? From the first day I met you, my heart has belonged to you. It’s never gone anywhere else. I’ve just been waiting for you to come back to me."

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.” She shook her head and sighed. “Why didn’t you try and get me back when we broke up? How could you do that to me?”