“We’re over.” I give my voice an edge to warn him that this isn’t a good topic of conversation, but Eli Pierce doesn’t give a shit about that.
“What happened? Did you get tired of her?”
I stab my fork into the mashed potatoes and take another bite before I answer.
“Not really.”
Eli narrows his eyes. This guy isn’t going to back down.
“She…got a little too involved in my personal life.”
“How’s that?”
“By hiring a private investigator.”
Eli laughs out loud. “What?”
“She wanted to know more about some rumors that have been going around the city since I’ve been back.”
“That shit about you and your—” His grin disappears, and he presses his lips together. “You and your wife?”
I nod, just once.
“I’m sorry about that, man. I heard something, but you never know what’s true.”
“Well, Carolyn was profiting off it. Quite well, from what I understand.”
“Profiting?”
“Do you not know about the website she runs? Some gossip site?”
Eli looks at me blankly, then something dawns in his expression. “Oh, shit. No, she never said anything to me directly, but now that I think about it, there were…hints. I heard about it from a couple of other people, but I never put two and two together until just now.” He shakes his head. “That doesn’t seem like her.”
“Well, it is like her.”
He blows out a breath through his lips, then cuts off another bite of steak. “Must have to do with that Drake guy. Back in college. And then there was the next one. Will? I can’t remember. Really screwed her over. Cheating. Pictures online. It was bad. She was—she was a mess.”
“And that explains a gossip site how?”
He takes in another deep breath. “Well, if I know Carolyn—and I do—she’s probably trying to make something good out of all the assholes that made her life miserable. I honestly think—” He takes a sip of his wine. “I honestly think you’re the first guy she’s dated in a while who hasn’t cheated on her.”
“Who would cheat on Carolyn Banks?”
“Exactly.”
There’s another silence, and the ice around my heart starts to chip and break. Maybe it was a kindness originally, but it must have gone wrong.
Can I blame her for that?
Can I forgive her?
“You sure it’s over?” Eli is poised with another bite of steak.
I look him right in the eye. “No.”
Chapter 43
Carolyn
Jess’s words ring in my ears on the way back to my apartment, and it’s not until I’m in the quiet that I can even begin to sort them out.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
She’s absolutely right.
The only way I’m going to know if Ace can put this behind him is to ask him. Basically, I’m going to have to grovel on my hands and knees and beg him to forgive me.
I can’t stop from rolling my eyes, even while my heart turns over. Maybe not quite on my hands and knees.
I still feel shell-shocked, and even after eating the breakfast sandwiches, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that my face is still monstrously pale.
But I know what I have to do.
Before I can approach Ace, I have to make sure that the rumors are out of my life forever. Otherwise, this scenario is bound to repeat itself until the end of eternity, and then what? I’ll be fabulously wealthy, but alone.
I’m going to have to call the tech team. They’re the ones who are going to be able to shut down the site, to wipe out its memory, to make sure the name is locked down forever so that nobody can resurrect it.
First, though, I need to sit down and watch a shitty rom-com on Netflix. After that gut-wrenching conversation with Jess, it’s all my mind can handle.
I spend Thursday parked on the couch with my laptop, sorting through all the things I’ll need to do before I can erase Rainflower Blue from the Internet. Ace is on my mind with every single breath, and it doesn’t help that all the most popular threads have to do with him. And me. And the so-called murder that he never committed.
I finally work up the courage to look through the packet from Aida.
My heart aches when I read it.
It’s information regarding Elisa’s death. No sign of foul play whatsoever, just a painful end brought on by cancer. Aida has included several items, including a police report that seems to have been filed by Elisa’s father, which accuses Ace of abusing her. The evidence, Aida says in a note, is completely falsified.
He’s an innocent man, and every second that the website is live, people who probably claim to be his friends are tearing him to pieces, speculating on when he’ll be arrested and tried in the United States’ courts.
I set up a meeting with the tech team, followed by one with my financial manager, for Friday morning, when I can be sure that I’ll have their undivided attention.