Loving Mr. Cane (Cane 3)

“For what?”

Mrs. Hugo peered over her shoulder. “For assaulting Carter’s fiancée.”

“Shit,” I hissed, remembering Mario’s story about Kelly’s record.

“Turns out he’d been engaged all along. His fiancée worked in Japan, so she was hardly home. She probably visited here and there, but not much until she came back for good. Their wedding was coming up, and of course Carter had to be there for the arrangements, which meant leaving Kelly in the dust. He was lonely when the fiancée was away—Kelly was just a fling and nothing more to him. But Kelly got…possessive. He told her that he was engaged but she didn’t care. She insisted that he leave his fiancée behind for her, but he refused to do that. She kept popping up at his club and his apartment, making demands. He could keep her out of the club, but not away from the apartment, so he broke his lease and moved in with the fiancée…but somehow Kelly found them.” She turned to face me. “Kelly saw them leaving one night and ended up grabbing the fiancée by the hair and cutting her face with a pocket knife. She was arrested that same night.”

“Damn.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Is this what you meant when you asked me on the phone a while ago if she was acting different? Was that a warning?”

“Yes. And that isn’t the first time she’s been so unpredictable. Kelly has been possessive her whole life. We had to pay Carter and his fiancée a large sum of money, just so they wouldn’t file a suit against her. She used to threaten me when she couldn’t get her way. She’d destroy my clothes by cutting them up or bleaching them. She’d break my jewelry or mess up the furniture. She’d manipulated her father many times just to make him buy her things or to do things for her. We had her checked in to see several therapists for her personality behaviors.”

“What personality behaviors?”

She sighed. “She was diagnosed with Bipolar Personality Disorder at first, which they had told us was simple to treat. But then more and more kept happening at her school and at home, so we took her in again to get tested and she was diagnosed with Narcissistic Disorder as well.”

“Go figure,” I muttered.

Mrs. Hugo frowned.

“Look, if you’re telling me all this to try and make me feel sorry for her, it’s not working. Kelly stabbed a nineteen-year-old girl who did absolutely nothing to her. She has a fucking problem.”

“Yes, she does, which is why she doesn’t deserve prison time. She needs help—someone to save her from men like you.”

“Or maybe she needs help, so men like me don’t end up in her clutches.” I walked around my desk. “You can’t possibly think you’re going to be the person to help her.”

“I’ll be whatever I have to be for my daughter.”

“Oh, please, Mrs. Hugo. Don’t come into my office trying to ride your fucking high horse now, all right? Kelly told me all about how you treated her as a child. You deserved what she did to your clothes and jewelry. You never made time for your daughter. You and your husband tried to buy her off so you could travel and shop and do whatever the hell else you liked to do during your spare time. Don’t act like you give a damn about her now!”

She took a step closer to me, looking me over. “You do realize that the only reason Kelly wanted you is because she considered you another Carter? And just like Carter, you abandoned her completely, all for a younger girl. So don’t you stand there and pretend you’re any better than me! Men like you make her crack!”

“Kelly already knew what we had wasn’t a real thing. She made it deeper than it was and only ended up punishing herself for it. It isn’t my fault she has a problem with facing reality.”

“Oh, whatever.” She turned away, walking to the door. “You better pray she gets better, Mr. Cane, because if she doesn’t, I’m sure you’ll see her again. Unless the therapists can help, she won’t move on until she finds another man just like you or Carter. That is my warning.” Mrs. Hugo gripped the doorknob and swung the door open. She marched out without so much as a look back. When she was gone, I slouched down in my chair, seething.

How the hell was she getting off virtually scot-free? This was clearly her second offense. She deserved to rot in jail for what she did.

My jaw clenched as I stared at the skyscrapers outside my window. If Kelly got out early, my troubles with her wouldn’t end, and if I really wanted Kandy back, there was no way in hell she’d stick around if she knew there was even a sliver of a chance that Kelly could return.