Page 65 of My Ex-Fiance's Best Men

It comes with a layer of pain I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.

“I can’t even imagine what it must feel like, but the reality is that money can, and often does, corrupt. Even family.”

“Oh, don’t I know it.”

“What matters is that someday, Helen will regret everything she ever did to hurt you,” Penny replies. “Though I don’t think she’ll ever tell you that. A woman like her is simply too proud, too greedy, and too vain. But I promise you, this will come back to bite her in the ass someday.”

There are times when I wish for some sort of divine retribution to befall her and Crystal. But those moments are short-lived, because at the end of the day, all I really want is peace. All I ever wanted was to love and to be loved. I started to understand a while back that I’d never get any of that from what was left of my family.

I’d almost moved on with Theo, Dominic, and August.

Almost.

A knock on the door startles both of us.

“Penny!” Dominic’s voice booms. “Open the door!”

“Holy smokes,” Penny gasps, her eyes as wide as saucers as she freezes beside me. “We should’ve figured they’d come here.”

“Open up!” Dominic insists. “I know you’re in there! I saw your car in the garage and I can smell the patchouli incense from here.”

Shit.

I’d laugh if the situation was less unpleasant.

Penny curses under her breath, then looks at me. “What do you want me to do?”

“It’s your place, I can’t tell you that,” I reply with a shrug.

“Okay, now you’re the one who isn’t helping. They came here looking for you. You can hide in the bedroom.”

“No, you know what, open the door.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ve got this.”

We both get up and walk to the door. I hold my breath, realizing that Dominic most likely didn’t come alone. August and Theo are surely with him.

As soon as Penny opens the door, I notice right away that Theo looks terrible. It breaks my heart until I remember those Perle Noire photos, the anger and hurt of betrayal taking over again.

“Phoebe,” Theo says. “We’ve been trying to reach you for two days now.”

“I didn’t want to be reached,” I reply, crossing my arms.

“We need to talk.”

“Please, Phoebe, at least listen to what he has to say,” Dominic adds.

“The two of you are here to what, exactly? Support him?”

“To talk to you,” August says.

I shake my head. “I believe I have made it crystal clear that I don’t want to speak to any of you. Yet here you are, pounding on Penny’s door, insisting she let you in. It’s as if none of you respect me or my wishes.”

Penny gives me a shocked look. I don’t know if she’s horrified or impressed by the card I just pulled. Hell, I don’t know if I’m horrified or impressed, but the words came out easily.

“Phoebe,” Theo says. “It’s not that we don’t respect your wishes.”