Chapter Twenty
Say Something
Grant
My phone buzzed and made me look up from the deposition I was reading. I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the clock. It was nearly six o’clock. I had been at this since seven o’clock this morning. Other than the coffee and sandwich Madison brought into me today, I hadn’t had a break.
I’m going to be late tonight. I have something to take care of. XO – E
I smiled and typed out a response that I’d see her later before turning back to my paperwork. I had a huge case coming up that if I lost, it would not be good. A lot of important people would be less than thrilled with me if that happened. Luckily, I was known for winning. That didn’t mean my stress level wasn’t through the roof right now though. The only thing keeping me grounded was Elizabeth. Her sweet, gentle and loving nature eased my nerves and soothed me. I was grateful that I had found her.
Elizabeth finally agreed to move in with me. She had just about two months left on her lease, and she told her landlord that she wouldn’t be renewing. She was to start moving her stuff in this weekend. For now, the only items she had at my house were some clothes and toiletries. I couldn’t wait to change that. To have her with me whenever I wanted. I had to admit I was looking forward to christening her stay in every nook and cranny of my apartment.
I heard the door creak open, and I looked to see Corinne striding into the room like she owned it. I clenched my hands into fists and ground my teeth. She was not welcome here after her stunt with the tabloids. I knew my mother. If she had told a reporter Elizabeth was an escort, she would have taken credit for it immediately. The fact that she didn’t pointed straight back to Corinne.
“You better have a damn good excuse for being here,” I said and sat back in my chair, portraying an aloofness that I wasn’t feeling.
“Why hello to you too,” she murmured and sat with a flourish on the chair in front of my desk.
“Let’s not fool ourselves with pleasantries. I don’t want you here, so tell me what you want and then be gone.”
“Well, I’m appalled at your behavior,” she gasped in fake astonishment.
“You shouldn’t be. I told you exactly what I thought of you the last time I saw you.”
“I came bearing news that you will want to hear and all I get is bunch of attitude from you. Maybe I should just leave and keep this to myself.” She acted like she was getting up. I knew her game. She wanted me to beg her to know. Too bad I wasn’t going to.
“You know where the door is.” I picked up my pen and started back on my paperwork.
“Grant. Please, darling. I think you need to hear this,” she pleaded with me after watching me silently for a few minutes.
“Make it quick. Let’s get this over with already.” I conceded to listen to her.
“Your girlfriend is having an affair.”
Her words made my breath hitch and a pain sear through my chest. I felt like it was déjà vu all over again.
“That’s impossible,” I argued, trying to stay calm and remember who I was talking to.
“But it is. I saw it with my own two eyes. She and Travis Hamilton were coming out of the Waldorf Astoria together. They were laughing, and her hand was tucked in his arm. They were exceptionally cozy. And that wasn’t the first time I saw it either. They were also at a coffee shop with their heads bent together, whispering.”
Flashes of Travis and Elizabeth kissing at his New Year’s Eve party bombarded my brain. I couldn’t stop my flinch or the subsequent images of them having an affair. Him taking her to a hotel room at the Waldorf. Our Waldorf. I felt sick to my stomach and had the overwhelming urge to punch something. Anything. Travis’ face would be a great place to start.
“You believe me don’t you? I can tell by the look on your face that you’re concerned about it. Grant, I’m sorry. She’s just like Gabriela. You deserve better than her.”
“I don’t know if I believe you. After the stunt you pulled before, why should I believe you now?” I had to try to stay rational and remember who I was dealing with. I couldn’t get ahead of myself and accuse Elizabeth without facts.
“I was afraid you’d say that. That’s why I took a picture. Here look.” She thrust her cell phone in my face and the sight of Elizabeth and Travis together had me seeing red. I never knew it was actually possible to see the color red coat everything in your vision, but it was.
The similarities of the two women’s actions started playing out in my mind. I began drawing parallels between Elizabeth and Gabriela.
My heart might have physically cracked in two for the amount of pain I was experiencing. I couldn’t believe I was used again. I trusted her. I handed her my heart on a silver f*cking platter, and she threw it away. Just like the others.
How could I have made the same mistake again? I should have learned to keep myself closed off. It worked better that way. Sex with no attachments meant I never had to worry about someone wanting my money and prestige instead of me.
For God’s sake, I was going to pay off her debt for our six-month anniversary coming up. I was going to surprise her, when in actuality she probably expected it all along. She’s probably been playing me since day one to get me to take care of her. All these extra hours she’d been working. Right. She was probably off f*cking Travis and God knows who else.
“Out,” I barked at her and she jumped at my tone. “Get out! Now!”
Corinne grabbed her phone and scrambled for the door. When she shut it behind her, I closed my eyes. All my past insecurities and mistrust were creeping back up. There was a reason I kept myself closed off for so long.
I knew Corinne was a viper, looking for any way in that I would give her, but I couldn’t overlook the evidence. And the evidence was starting to look bad… the picture, the Waldorf, Elizabeth’s recent requests for alone time to ‘run errands.’ It all unnerved me.
I picked up my phone to call Elizabeth. I needed to know what she was actually doing. I prayed that she wasn’t with Travis. Because if she was, I was afraid it might just tear us apart.
?????
Elizabeth
Travis and I sat at his table eating pizza and planning Grant’s surprise birthday party. I couldn’t wait to surprise him. Travis rented one of the terraces in the Starlight Room at the Waldorf for me. I thought it was fitting for us to celebrate there. It’s where we first connected, and it would forever hold a special place in my heart.
Tomorrow will be our six-month anniversary, and I was excited to see what Grant had planned. George was supposed to pick me up after work and from there I had no idea what we were doing. It was thrilling and so out of character for me to look forward to a surprise. Grant had the best surprises though, so I couldn’t bring myself to get worked up over it.
“I want to do silver and black for the colors. And nothing too crazy for decorations. Just flowers and maybe some candelabras.” I bit my pizza and chewed while Travis wrote it down for me.
My cell phone rang, and I glanced at the screen to see it was Grant.
“Shhh. It’s Grant. I don’t want him to know what we’re doing.” I set my pizza down and picked up the phone to answer it.
“Hi, baby,” I said enthusiastically into the phone. “You still at work?”
“I am. Where are you?” His voice sounded strange, like it held no emotion. It was the oddest thing to hear.
“Just running some errands. Did you want me to come over tonight when I’m done?” I sat back in my chair and started picking at my napkin. I had a dreadful sense of foreboding settling around me.
“No. I’m going to be late. You should just go home. Did you say you were alone?”
“Um, I didn’t say actually.”
“Well are you?” He grilled me. I couldn’t understand why this was so important.
“I am. Is everything okay? You sound funny.”
“I’m fine. I have to go,” he said curtly and my skin began to crawl.
“Okay, love you.” When I didn’t hear a reply, I felt the sudden urge to weep. I set my phone down, assuming he had hung up on me and looked up at Travis.
“I don’t know what that was all about, but Grant seemed off.” I blinked rapidly to try and dispel the tears in my eyes.
“Lizzie Boo. Don’t cry. I’m sure it’s fine. Come here.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my chair and into his arms.
“Do you think he knows? Do you think he’s mad?” I asked thinking maybe he found out what I was planning for his birthday and wasn’t as excited about a surprise party as I thought he’d be.
“There’s no way he could know. We’ve been careful.” He kissed my cheek and I rested my head on his shoulder. After a few minutes of his silent support, I pulled myself together and crawled off his lap.
There had to be a reasonable explanation for the way he acted on the phone tonight.
?????
My stomach churned as I took the elevator up to Grant’s place. He had yet to return any of my calls and texts from the day. To make matters worse, George had just informed me that we weren’t going out for our anniversary. He told me that he had strict orders to bring me here to see Grant. When I quizzed him for more information, he was tight lipped. He just said he would be ready to take me home whenever I wanted.
That statement right there scared the shit out of me. It meant that Grant didn’t expect me to be staying the night. And the fact that it was our anniversary made that thought sting even worse.
Ever since the call last night where Grant seemed off, a giant ball of dread sat in the pit of my stomach. I had no idea why this was happening. I only knew that it was, and I was powerless to stop it at the moment.
I exited the elevator and opened the door to his apartment. It was eerily quiet, so I followed the hall down to the Great Room.
Grant stood in the room with his blue dress shirt open, a Scotch in one hand and the other arm braced on the window looking out over Manhattan. At the sound of my footsteps, he turned, and I sucked in a breath at the raw punch of lust I felt whenever I saw him.
His chest was smooth and tanned and on display. My tongue wanted to run all over it and taste every inch of him. His hair was disheveled and sexy. But his eyes stopped the heat building in my body. They were cold and lifeless.
This wasn’t the man I loved.
“George said we weren’t going out tonight,” I said hesitantly, feeling that the conversation needed to start before I lost what little cool I had left after worrying most of the night about Grant.
“No, we aren’t. There’s a box by the door with your things. You can take it on your way out.”
What? My things? He was kicking me out? And without an explanation? I did not think so. He couldn’t just dismiss me like I was some trivial peon of his. I deserved more than this.
“Maybe you should explain what’s happening here.”
“I know about you and Travis. Corinne saw the two of you together. You can’t hide your affair any longer. I have to say I’m quite disgusted by your behavior. Thank God I always used condoms except that once. At least that way you couldn’t trap me with a baby. What? Was his bank account larger than mine?” He tipped his head back and downed the rest of his drink.
He might as well have punched me in the stomach for the way my body moved backward under his verbal blow.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to, but I think we should sit down and discuss this when you haven’t been drinking. How could you possibly believe something that vile woman would say after the hateful thing she did to me? It’s plain to see that she wants you and will stop at nothing to have you.”
“I’m not drunk. I’m rather lucid at the moment actually. So lucid that I know I don’t want to ever see you again once you walk out that door. As for Corinne, that’s what I thought as well until I called you and you proceeded to lie to me about being alone.” His body leaned towards mine menacingly. How the hell could he have known I was with Travis?
“I don’t understand.” I shook my head and tried to piece this all together. None of it was making sense. Two days ago, we were in love, and now I didn’t even know him.
“I heard you and him after you thought you hung up. You were talking about how I had no clue. I even heard a kiss. I’m through with you. I think its best you leave before I say what I’m really thinking. Leave with some dignity, Elizabeth.”
Oh my God. He was on the phone the whole time. How could I have been so foolish as to not look at my phone display when I set it down? My mind raced, trying to remember what exactly had been said and how it could be misconstrued, but I couldn’t think clearly. I was still reeling from the fact that Grant was dumping me over something that bitch Corinne said. And that he was looking at me like I was pond scum.
“No. I’m not going to leave. We’re going to talk about this. I love you, Grant.” I rallied and decided to fight for this relationship. One of us had to. It was clear that Grant had given up, but I wasn’t going to. If I was going down, I was going down swinging. I was no pushover.
“Don’t you ever say those words to me again. Do you hear me?” He hissed and his face looked like he could spit nails.
Tears filled my eyes, and I fought the urge to drop to my knees and cry hysterically.
“Grant. Please.” I reached out to touch him knowing he couldn’t deny our spark. He backed away from me and instead turned his back to me when he resumed his place at the window. The rejection stung harder than I could have ever imagined. I stood there for several moments waiting for him to acknowledge me.
“Say something,” I challenged. “Say something, damn it!”
He stood motionlessly with his back towards me, and I felt so full of despair watching him ignore me. Like I didn’t matter to him at all.
“You once asked me how I could believe all the stories about you after I had gotten to know you. Well, now I’m asking you how you could believe I would do this to you. You believing this whole misunderstood situation is the same thing as you treating me like a whore, something you swore you would never do. You said you’d never let Corinne hurt me. Well news flash, I’m hurting right now, Grant. I thought you loved me. If you did, then you couldn’t stand here and pretend like I don’t even exist.”
“You want this scene? Fine. I’ll give it to you. You are nothing but a whore. You pimped yourself out to me and all the while you used me for stature and money. Gifts, client referrals, taking care of your mom. They all came so easy for you. ‘Don’t buy me expensive presents. I can’t move in with you. I won’t take your money.’” His voice mocked mine. “All the while you were playing me, making me think that was really who you were. You wrapped me around your finger and your sweet p-ssy blinded me to the truth. Thank you for showing me that I am just as na?ve as my grandfather for believing a woman might actually want me for me. You’re just like all the others. A ruthless, gold digging whore.” His chest heaved with his anger and spit gathered at the corners of his mouth as he shouted at me. In that moment, I felt like a complete stranger to him.
Up until that point, I had considered telling him what was really going on with Travis and me. After his diatribe, there was no way in hell I would ever explain myself to a man who could treat me so callously. His cruel words twisted in my stomach and turned into a bitter weight that I was sure to carry around with me forever. I would never be able to forget the way he looked at me like I was nothing as he spewed his venom at me.
“I’m glad to know what you really think of me, Grant.” I swiped tears angrily from my face. “You know what? I give up, Grant. You didn’t want me to ever push you away again, well you just shoved me so far away from you that I’d never find my way back, even if I wanted to. I’m sorry that I wasn’t enough to show you that love really does exist. I would have done anything for you. I would have followed you anywhere. I believed in you and us that much. You’re the not the man I love. Right here in front of me is a shell of that man. Goodbye.”
I turned on my heels and ran for the door. Before I left, I turned back and shouted, “I quit!” Then I bent down and grabbed my box before running to the elevator and slipping inside when the doors opened.
I walked quickly through the somewhat crowded lobby and pushed my way out onto the street. Rain had started to fall when I was inside. It quickly drenched my skin and my sundress as I ran out into the street towards the subway, nearly getting hit by a car in the process. The rain camouflaged the tears streaming down my face, and I welcomed every drop of it.
I vaguely heard George calling my name, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. I had to get as far away from the man who trampled my heart as I could.