Beauty and the Boss (Modern Fairytales 1)

Elizabeth stared up at him, all wide eyes and pouting lips. Her hands rested on his chest, and she rubbed him in a way that was probably supposed to arouse him, but was just annoying. “What are you saying?”

He tensed, unable to stand her hands moving over him for another second. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life with this woman.

Jesus, he’d rather die.

“I’m saying that I can’t marry you.” He forcibly removed her hands from his body. “You need to leave. Now.”

“But—”

He pointed to the door. “Leave. Now.”

She gathered her purse to her chest, hugging it, and her lower lip trembled. Unlike Maggie, she did nothing to attempt to stop it. Maggie…

Was he too late? Had she already left?

“You’re a real beast. You know that?” Elizabeth asked, sniffing.

“Yeah. I do.” He picked up his phone and swiped his finger across it. “I’m surprised it took you so long to notice, though.”

She swept off without another word.

He dialed Maggie’s number and prayed like hell that he wasn’t too late. That she hadn’t gotten on the plane yet.

She couldn’t leave him. He couldn’t let her. He loved her.

As the phone rang, he stared at a paper on the floor, squinting at the tiny print. The dates…they were off. This was dated a little over six years ago, right before his father had passed away. He blinked, just in case the booze was fucking with his head.

It wasn’t. These were old figures.

“What the hell?” he muttered, bending down and picking it up.

“That was uncalled for,” his mother said, making him jump and curse under his breath. The paper floated back to the floor. He let it. “She’s always been a nice girl. Far too nice for a spoiled brat such as yourself.”

He turned to his mother, the phone still held to his ear. “Jesus Christ. How long have you been standing there watching me?”

“Benjamin.” She scowled at him. “Language.”

Voicemail picked up, so he turned his back on his mother.

“Hey, it’s Maggie. I’m not available at the moment, so leave a message. Bye.”

He swallowed hard, her voice sending a shaft of agony rushing through his veins. “It’s me. Call me back. We need to talk.” He paused, glanced at his mother, and added, “I’m sorry. Please. Call me.” He hung up and slid his phone across the desk.

“She’s gone.” His mother crossed her arms. “I watched her go.”

He froze, his heart pounding full speed ahead. “When did you see her?”

“When you were busy kissing Elizabeth. She saw that, too.” She sat down on the chair by the door—the one he hadn’t sat in because it was Maggie’s, and it hadn’t felt right. “Don’t worry, though. She wasn’t upset. The money she made off of you was well worth it.”

He pressed a hand to his chest, as if it would ease the empty ache within, and picked the paper up again. Staring down at the date, he crumpled it into a ball, seething with the knowledge that he’d been had. These numbers were out of date, and he’d fallen for the oldest trick in the book. “What did you do?”

“Nothing. I simply informed her you wouldn’t be able to buy her farm, like she’d hoped. It’s why she roped you in. Her parents finally lost the valiant battle to keep their useless, insignificant business afloat. She was going to beg you to buy it and save her.” She rested an arm on the table next to her and traced an invisible pattern. “So I told her that wouldn’t happen, but that I’d buy it if she left. So I did. And she did.”

He shook his head slowly, cursing the drink that fogged up his brain. “You bought her off, and she took it?”

“She did.” She smiled and pulled something out of her purse. “Here’s the paperwork, in case you don’t believe me.”

“But—” He took the documents and sure enough, it was paperwork to buy a large lot of land in South Dakota. And the dates were accurate on these papers. “It was all a lie. The money…it’s there. It’s all there.”