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“Why are you calling? Is it to gloat? As I told the solicitor, you’re welcome to it. I got what I wanted. Lottie and my company.”

Darra sighs. “I’ll never understand you.”

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t need to marry me. You never loved me.”

It’s my turn to sigh. “No, but I thought I got you pregnant. That was on me. I’m not someone who shirks their responsibilities.”

That was a dig at Lottie’s real dad.

Silence.

“And that is why you hate me so much,” she says, a certain sadness in her voice.

Does she wish things had been different?

“Darra, you lied about the pregnancy. You duped me into marrying you. Have spent years using Lottie as a bargaining chip to blackmail me. Lottie may not be my blood, Darra, but she’ll always be my daughter. That’s not something you have ever understood. What I don’t understand is—why me?”

There’s more silence. “I couldn’t letherhave you.”

I stare at the phone in my hand. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, Eli. I used to see how you looked at her, how the two of you were, with your in-jokes and nerdy, geeky computer talk. She was so madly in love with you. Even your bloody family has always preferred her and wanted her. I’ve never been able to compete.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Penelope Dawson,” she hisses.

“There was never any competition. Pen was my friend. She wasourfriend.” I say, but knowing that is not entirely true.

“She was nevermyfriend,” Darra mocks.

“Fine. But she was mine,” I say honestly.

I’ve never admitted, not in years, what I lost when Darra announced she was pregnant.

That day, I lost my best friend, the only person who truly saw me, and not just the Frazer heir. I’ll never forget the look on her face or the pain in her eyes.

“Even your family sided with her,” she continues.

“What are you talking about? There were no sides. You were my wife.”

“They loved her, made me feel like an outsider.”

“That’s not true.”

Although maybe it is. After our marriage, Darra quickly took on the role of Lady-of-the-Manor, ordering staff around and demanding more and more of me. My parents were not fans. It was not the way my family worked. My mother tried. She took her pregnant daughter-in-law under her wing and tried to incorporate her into our way of life. But her endgame became clear as her parents began wrangling invites to every social event and party using our name.

“Ironic that you’re finally single, and she’s now engaged to be married. She got tired of waiting and caught herself a billionaire.”

My blood runs cold at her words, but I refuse to let her poison taint me anymore.

“Goodbye, Darra.”

I end the call and run a hand over my short hair.

I pull up the news feed.

American Billionaire Kristophe Lansdown announces his engagement to tech titan Penelope Dawson

Below the headlineis a picture of the happy couple. Pen is in her usual black, while Kristophe stands awkwardly beside her.

My mind wanders back to my first meeting with Penelope Dawson. A smile forms as I think back to how that first meeting changed the course of my life.