Rebound, Boundless Series, Book 1

Chapter Thirty Nine

"Let me go, Matt." I struggled out of his hold. He set me down gently. His arms retreated from around my body. "Do you know what I overheard Brigit say in the bathroom at the dinner at Carve?" He squinted. "He's just using her." I scoffed at the memory. "Her statement burned in my memory and unsettled me for these several weeks. I tried to suppress all the cruel things she said. I'd look for signs she was wrong—drunk, and even jealous, perhaps." I shook my head. "She was absolutely right, though." I poked a finger at my own chest. "I was a fool. A stupid, hopeful, needy fool who thought someone could love me for me. You were great at your part," I confirmed.

He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at me with sad eyes.

"How did you get access to Liberty's business information?" I demanded.

He turned around and didn't answer.

"Fine." I waved a dismissive hand. "I think I know the answer. The Inn never had a break-in, and information acquired had to be done from the inside without any suspicion. You took my master key to the inn, didn't you?" His head tilted back, looking at the ceiling. "But no renowned, self-respecting doctor would ever do the dirty work of entering an inn and taking information for the benefit of his corporation, would he?" When he looked at me, I pointed an accusatory finger in his direction. "You had help breaking in. The only thing I can't pinpoint was when or who." I looked at him, pausing for him to answer the question.

Yet, as was his right, he remained silent. I wasn't a police detective, interrogating him. He owed me nothing. 

"When did you take the key?" I cocked my head to gaze into his downcast eyes. "It had to have been early on because a couple of months after we started dating, the inn was sold, and I'd lost my job a few weeks ago." I stopped to sift through the overload of information. I covered my face with my arms, holding my head, pushing down the tears.

"Alice fought so hard to stop a sale from happening. Because Alice was terminal, Ross no longer wanted to be tied to the inn. Your medical degree really came in handy to check her diagnosis and treatment plan. How great of me to tell you about her illness? Or did you invade her medical records, like you did mine?" He scowled at me after that accusation. "Lucky for Pentagon, you knew she had declined further treatment and was ready to die. How opportune was it, having her sign over all her worldly possessions to Ross, not wanting to wait for her own death and the end of probate of her estate? Pentagon had a fucking lucky break, didn't it?"

"Did you know Alice initially left me half of Liberty Inn in her will?" Surprised that he nodded yes, I continued with my diatribe, "Of course you did, I didn't. But then again, I'm just a simple girl from Southie, who doesn't need to inherit half an Inn when a more deserving corporation would better benefit from tearing it down and building a mega facility." He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"So what was the plan if she hadn't signed over her ownership of Liberty to Ross before her death? What if Ross didn't plan to sell and I would've acquired half of Liberty upon the settlement of Probate? Would you have married me, continuing this fucking charade of a relationship, and tried to convince me and Ross to sell Liberty to Pentagon?" I argued.

"I wouldn't have taken it that far." He admitted.

"That's right. You wouldn't have taken it that far because I didn't mean anything. You have standards. You wouldn't marry me to steal my part ownership." I inhaled a deep breath, grounding myself for an answer to the string of questions I had for him.

"How far would you have taken it, Matt? Help me understand the timeline of when you met me, discovered my connection to Liberty, and closed on the sale of Liberty to PGC, when was I supposed to learn about all of this? What was supposed to happen to us?"