She frowned because one of them wasn’t fully covered and it looked an awful lot like hers. But what would they be doing here of all places?
She hurried over, unrepentant about snooping. She pulled back the covering and gasped. They were her paintings!
chapter twenty-eight
Josie quickly rummaged through the others, her stomach knotting as she took in every single painting she’d sold in Mr. Downing’s art gallery.
What on earth?
She let the covering fall and stepped back, the knot in her stomach growing bigger. Oh no. No, no, no. It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t have.
But he had. The evidence was staring her right in the face.
“Miss Carlysle, please. You shouldn’t be in here,” the doorman said from the door.
“No, I don’t suppose I should,” she murmured.
She pushed past him, ignoring his calls for her to stop. What on earth could he possibly say?
She shoved into the elevator, tears stinging her eyes. How could he have done it? She felt like the biggest fool on earth. She’d never dreamed that Ash had been the one to buy all her paintings, but it shouldn’t have surprised her. He’d orchestrated every aspect of their relationship so far.
Desolation settled over her. She wasn’t successful. She wasn’t independent. Everything she had came from Ash. She was living off his money, in his apartment. Nothing had been bought with her money. Her earlier sensation of rightness, that she’d found her place in the world, was gone with the discovery of those paintings.
She swept out of the elevator so agitated she couldn’t even think straight. Her gaze settled on the boxes, most of which had already been unpacked. She walked right by them and sagged onto the couch, covering her face with her hands.
She was utterly humiliated. Every single time she’d excitedly exclaimed to Ash over the success of her work came back to her in waves of embarrassment. And he’d let her!
He’d lied to her, something she wouldn’t have imagined. No, he hadn’t come out and denied buying the paintings, but then she hadn’t asked. She’d never dreamed that he’d been behind it. His was a lie of omission. So huge, so monumental that she couldn’t even fathom.
What else had he kept from her?
Tears burned her eyelids but she refused to give in to them. She also refused to believe she was overreacting. This wasn’t something small. Her success had enabled her to say yes to Ash’s demands. She’d felt like she could agree because she felt capable of supporting herself. No way would she have gone blindly into a relationship with Ash with such a huge disparity between them. She’d been willing and able to submit because she’d been strong enough to come to him as an equal. Not that there’d ever been true equality between them, but her success as an artist, having money in her bank account and the means to support herself, had been very important to her and it had evened the odds between them. At least in her mind.
What she hadn’t realized was just how unequal things were between them.
She was living in his apartment. All the money in her bank account was his. Not hers. Oh God, he’d even paid her double. She should have questioned her good fortune. People didn’t just walk into an art gallery and magnanimously offer to pay more than asking price for art.
She was so stupid. Na?ve. A complete and utter moron.
She’d actually believed that someone had been awed by her work. She’d believed she had real talent even though Mr. Downing had refused to display more of her art because it wasn’t selling. Now she knew the truth.
She closed her eyes, devastated by her discovery. She’d trusted him. Had kept no part of herself from him. And he’d shit all over that gift.
All his words about cherishing her gift, about protecting it and appreciating it, meant nothing. He’d made a gigantic fool of her. God, she’d even told the others about the sale of her artwork. She’d been so proud. So excited. Did they all know that Ash was her benefactor?