Tangled Web (22 page)

“Hi, angel, I’m still having meetings.
 
Me and Adam have a ton of work at the office,
and…”
 
He thought I was going to get
angry.

“Nathan, that’s okay.”
 
A pause.

“It is?”
 

I laughed at the hesitation in his voice. “Yes, of course. I
know you have a busy job…
 
I’ll probably
have an early night so wake me up when you get in.”

“Okay,” he sighed.
 
“Night, angel.”

A few hours later I was nodding off on the settee when my phone
beeped with a message.
 
From Chase.
 
I clicked it to open it and my blood went
cold.
 
There on the screen it said,
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first
we practice to deceive,”
with an attached picture of Nathan and
Sophie.
 
At dinner.
 
It was an old picture.
 
It had to be.
 
Chase was just trying to cause trouble.

I dialled Nathan’s number and it just rang.
 
No answer.
 
Just as I went to hang up someone picked up.
 
Not just anyone though.
 
The last person I ever wanted to talk to.

“Hello,” Sophie said.
 

I wanted to hit her so badly my palms tightened into
fists.
 
She knew who it was.
 
She saw my photo and name flash up on the
screen.
 
She knew exactly what she was
doing.

“Is Nathan there?” I choked.

“No.” She giggled.
 

I wanted to snap her neck.
 

“He left his phone at my place…”
 
Another giggle.
 

I threw my phone down next to me.
 
How could he?
 
How could Nathan do this to me?
 
Last night he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.
 
Within twenty-four hours he’s dipping his
dick somewhere else.
 
Well, he could go
screw himself.

I grabbed the pen and paper and wrote a note to Nathan.
“I spoke to Sophie.
 
You left your phone with her.
 
I’ll be back for my stuff.
 
Good job it’s still boxed.”

I had to rewrite this over three times due to my tears
leaking on the page.
 
How could he do
this to me?
 
He knew what Sophie
was.
 
After everything he said to me.
 
How could I believe the lies?
 
How could I be so easy to play?
 
He spouts a few ‘I love yous’ and I instantly
cave.

I had fallen for Nathan.
 
Hard.
 
Why couldn’t it be the same
for him?
 
After leaving my key and bangle
he gave me for my birthday behind on the table I left the apartment and didn’t
look back.
 
The only other thing I was
leaving behind was my heart.
 
I don’t
think I was ever going to get that back.

As I passed through the lobby Adam was coming in through the
door.
 
As soon as he looked at me he
began smirking.
 
I wanted to slap that
stupid smirk off his face.

“Trouble in paradise?” he asked cockily as I passed.
 

I pushed past him and stormed out the main door.
 
I flagged down a black cab and directed him
to the Giles Hotel.
 
No one would know to
look for me there.
 
Right now I just
wanted to disappear.

As the taxi began to pull away from the curb Nathan got out
of his car and looked at Adam in the doorway.
 
As Adam pointed in my direction Nathan looked horrified.
 
He began running in my direction shouting my
name.
 
I shook my head, allowing the
tears to come.

I looked out the back window through blurry eyes and watched
Nathan disappear from view.
 
The worst
thing I ever did was come home to London.
 
I had nothing here.
 
At least
before I had Chase.

Now I had no one.

Epilogue

Sophie

It is so easy for people to look in and see the bad.
 
That is one of the things that has always bothered
me.
 
People are so busy seeing the bad
that they never see the good.
 
I am
constantly seen as the biggest slag in the business.
 
Except Nathan.
 
Nathan never saw me like that.
 
If a man makes business deals in the bedroom
that’s okay.
 
If a woman does it… she’s a
whore.

Nathan always recognised the businesswoman in me.
 
When Nathan first took me to bed I thought
I’d died and gone to heaven.
 
I had never
been able to find someone that could keep up with me on a sexual level but that
man could make me scream seven different ways.
 
Every major business deal that had crossed Walker Enterprise’s desks had
come from me.
 
There was nothing I
wouldn’t do for Nathan.
 
I have made that
company millions and it is all for him.
 
I was fated to be Mrs. Nathan Walker and then Little Miss Innocence
comes back to town and thinks she can take him from me?

I don’t think so.
 
Nathan will be mine.
 
No matter
what it takes.
 
I will be Sophie Walker
and nothing will stand in my way.

Even if I have to destroy Chloe to do it.

Chase

It was so quiet here.
 
I
had grown so used to Chloe taking up space in my home.
 
She hadn’t been living here for long but the
place seemed so much smaller without her.
 
I didn’t like walking in here day after day and not seeing the little
marks of evidence of her everywhere.
 
No
hair ties on the table.
 
No books piling
up on the window sill.
 
Her bag of makeup
left on the breakfast bar.
 
No smell of
her cooking.
 
No notes on the fridge
telling me to have a good day with a kissy face at the bottom.

I missed her much more than when she lived in Paris.
 
At least then she was in another country
there was nothing I could do about it.
 
Now living in the same city and not talking…
 
It feels like we’re oceans apart.

I love my baby sister dearly but I can’t stand watching her
make the worst mistake of her life.
 
Nathan Walker is bad for her.
 
If
throwing her out and making it difficult for her is the only way to do it, then
that is what I will do.

I don’t want to lose my sister but if that is the price of
ending her and Nathan Walker I will gladly pay that price.
 
She will hate me but I can live with
that.
 
I cannot live with losing my
sister to that family.

Adam

Watching Chloe run from the building just seconds before Nathan
arrived left me positively gleeful.
 
I
couldn’t have timed it better myself.
 
Arranging a business meeting between myself, Nathan and Sophie.
 
Using Sophie’s desperate lust against her was
cruel but it had to be done.
 
Nathan was
clueless sitting there.
 
I had managed to
get him to attend as a witness for a business contract that I had been working
on for some lucrative shares for a private company with Sophie’s assistance.

All it took was a quick twist of Sophie’s arm by dangling
Nathan in front of her and planting a little seed of doubt in Chase’s head that
the best way to end this farce of a relationship would be to use Sophie.
 
A quick snap of the camera followed by a text
message and all I had to do was sit back and watch the fireworks.

Ever since we were kids, Chloe had always been a
firecracker.
 
But over the years her
temper had calmed down.
 
However, I knew
that girl better than Nathan ever would.
 
My entire childhood consisted of her.
 
Green eyes.
 
Red hair.
 
Adorable smile.
 
Climbing trees.
 
Jam sandwiches with no crusts.
 
Just me and my red-haired girl.

I always thought Chloe was my girl.
 
That one day she would come back and I could
pursue her.
 
I knew that once she got to
know me as adults that she could easily love me.
 
I had loved her ever since we were
children.
 
When I saw her with Nathan I
had never wanted to snap my little brother’s neck as much as I did in that
moment.

First my parents adopt the bastard.
 
Then I have to share everything throughout
our childhood with him.
 
Be compared
against the perfect son that they always wanted.
 
Now he still tries to take what’s mine.
 
My business and my red-haired girl.

Truth of the matter is he won’t have either.
 
I will soon have him removed from the
business and I have removed Chloe from his life.
 
Watching my brother collapse to his knees in
the rain after her taxi pulled away was the most wonderful thing I had ever
seen.
 
The business will be mine.

And so will Chloe.

To Be Continued

Author’s Note

Firstly, I would just like to say that I have loved writing
this book. I have wanted to be a writer ever since I was fifteen. I have had a
deep love of books ever since I was a small child and that is due to my mother.
My mother instilled a deep love of books in me and that love of reading has
followed me into my adult life.

I would like to thank two very special women in my
life.
 
Without these ladies and their
faith and belief in me, this book would not have been possible.
 
To my mother, Susan, thank you for your
constant love, acceptance and faith in me. It does not go unnoticed and I value
everything that you do for me. To my very good friend Claire, your belief in me
and these characters have been amazing and I appreciate everything you do for
me.

I would also like to thank my brothers Stuart and Carl for
all your love and support in everything that I do.

To the most amazing cover designer and editor I could ask
for.
 
Terra and Simon, thank you so much
and I look forward to working with you again.

Over the last few weeks I have met many amazing people and I
am so grateful to all the advice and guidance I have received from fellow
authors and bloggers.

Lastly I would like to thank you for reading this and I hope
you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Love,

Lizzie x