Shit.
“About six weeks ago.” Jett and I hadn’t met yet. The way I saw it, it must have taken Jake at least four weeks to prepare the necessary paperwork, double check my identity and heritage, and then contact me. Only I wasn’t around to receive the news because Jett had whisked me off to Italy. But why hire me to acquire the estate in the knowledge I was the heir? Unless he wanted me to fall for him in the hope I’d do anything to please him.
“I think he tried to set me up,” I said slowly as the realization dawned on me. A pang of pain shot through my chest, threatening to kill me. I snorted and shook my head. Coincidence, my butt. You’re not usually hired on the spot without even applying for the job, get jetted off to a luxurious mansion, enter a relationship with the hot boss, and inherit an estate worth millions, which happens to be the one estate your boss can’t seem able to buy.
“He tried to set me up,” I repeated. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“Why would you say that?” There was no surprise on Sylvie’s face, no sign of disagreement, just caginess, as though she knew it was the truth but needed me to acknowledge it first so I wouldn’t blame her.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
I smiled bitterly. How very true. “Jett gets whatever he wants. He simply makes it happen. His tactic is to sweet-talk the owners with expensive trips and meals, and then get them to sign.” I wondered if he slept with all his female targets, or just me.
“Maybe it wasn’t his intention. It could still be coincidence.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Sylvie.” My voice raised a notch. “He made me believe he cared for me, and I fell for it. I fell for his whole love, attraction, sex stuff.”
“Are you going to let him explain?” Sylvie asked.
I shook my head, wiping away the tears gathering in the corner of my eyes. What would be the point? Now that I had the entire picture, I knew I was nothing but a pawn in his game, and I had stupidly fallen for it. The guy was like poison. Getting near him was the last thing I wanted. I had fallen for the wrong person, even opened my heart to him. The realization of my stupidity hurt me more than anything.
Sylvie hugged me as more tears streamed down my face. “Are you going to expose him for the rat he is?”
Smiling bitterly, I shook my head. “And how would I do that? No, I’ll do something else. I’ll break up with him in a way he’ll never forget.”
Jett might have broken my trust in him, and probably in all other men in this world, but he didn’t yet get what he wanted, which was Alessandro’s estate. He might usually win, but not this time. Alessandro Lucazzone wouldn’t sell; I’d make sure of that.
“Just be careful,” Sylvie said, hugging me tight. “Guys like him always get far, but not without gathering a few skeletons in their closets.”
“Thank you.” I placed a soft kiss on Sylvie’s cheek.
“For what?”
“For being honest. If you didn’t tell me, if you didn’t make me aware of it, who knows whether I would have seen through his lies.” I shook my head as I remembered how much I had wanted this man. I winced at the pang of pain rocking my chest, right where my heart was. It shouldn’t have hit me so hard, but it did. Maybe because he was the first person I trusted after what happened to Jenna. Maybe because I thought if we shared our life stories, the good and the ugly, we might indeed be kindred spirits. Maybe because I thought he knew me and liked me for who I was, rather than for who I pretended to be.
I needed to get away from here. Leave him and the pain behind. Forget everything that happened.
Forget him.
I jumped up from the couch, pulling Sylvie with me. “Come on. We need to pack.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Now that it was over, I wished I had seen all the things I didn’t see: Jett’s enthusiasm to be with me, to listen to my life stories, and deal with my commitment phobia. He had been trying to get me to fall in love with him, which I had foolishly let happen when I should have listened to my gut feeling instead. After years of putting up defenses I let my guard down, trusting the one guy who’d go on to conquer me with beautiful words and attention, only to betray me.
He always acted so composed, so perfect. Was it because he never really cared about me? Irrespective of how I tried to see it, what excuses I gave him, he had broken my heart in a million pieces. And to think of all the times I trusted him. All the hours I prayed we’d last forever. How I thought he might be ‘the one’. The way glass shatters—so did my trust.