4
That line hit Harry so hard his face went red in an instant.
The hand he'd reached out froze in midair, and for the longest moment he couldn't seem to lower it.
His fist clenched hard, and when he stared at me his eyes were full of shame and fury. "Ruby, do you have to make it sound so ugly? Fine, I admit what I did today was wrong. But Renata and I really are just boss and employee. Why won't you let it go?"
"Like hell you are." I rolled my eyes and stepped around him toward the elevator.
"Move. Stop making me sick just standing here."
But he blocked the elevator door. "Ruby, what were our three years together to you? You're really going to be this cold and end everything over something this small?"
"Three years together?" I stopped and looked at him standing there so self-righteous, and the irony of it was almost unbearable.
"Harry, put your hand on your heart and ask yourself how I treated you these three years. Put your hand on the Sanchez stock price and ask that too. Without the Pruitt family, would you be where you are today? You know exactly who's being cold here!"
"I never wronged you!" His voice rose.
"And another thing. I got where I am by fighting for it, step by step. Yes, the Pruitt family helped me, but you can't keep bringing that up forever and using it to step all over me, can you?"
I folded my arms and gave him a thin, contemptuous smile. "Harry, you really have no shame left, do you? Fought for it, my ass. Without the Pruitt family, with your ability you couldn't have made CEO. You couldn't have made assistant to the CEO. Don't dress it up so nicely. You just felt like my family background was so good it choked the air out of you, so you went looking for a girl like Renata who treats you like her meal ticket to feed your vanity. What, do I have to spell it out before you face reality? Do you know how pathetic that makes you..."
That speech tore away every last shred Harry had been hiding behind.
The vein at his temple was jumping with rage.
He pointed at me and couldn't get a word out for the longest time, and in the end all he managed to squeeze out was, "Can you stop reading the worst into people? Ruby, the truth is you look down on me from the bottom of your heart. Stop dragging my name through the mud!"
The second he said it, I knew. The insecurity and resentment he'd buried for years had finally all come out into the open.
I couldn't be bothered to keep arguing. I shoved him aside, pulled my suitcase into the elevator.
"Whether I'm reading the worst into you, you know the answer. Save your breath. Get out of the way!"
Harry lost his footing and stumbled back a couple of steps.
This time he didn't try to stop me.
Maybe because I'd stripped away the thing he'd been hiding behind.
Or maybe because he thought I was just throwing a tantrum, and in a few days I'd come crawling back to his side.
Eyes rimmed red, he shouted after me, "Ruby, if you leave, don't come back!" Then he turned and went back inside.
I watched his furious figure get sealed off behind the metal doors.
And the last trace of a smile faded from my lips.
It would be a lie to say it didn't hurt.
I gave the best three years of my youth to this man.
From twenty-three to twenty-six.
But hurt or not, wrong is wrong.
Since he dared to wrong me, he could bear the consequences.
Everything he owed me, I'd collect it back one item at a time.
As the elevator went down, I called my father's special assistant.
"Clark Chavez, we're going ahead as planned. Freeze every Sanchez project tied to the Pruitt family, pull all the venture capital, and have a word with the banks. Call in every loan that can be called in."
Clark agreed without hesitation. "Yes, Ms. Pruitt. I'll set it in motion right away. Pruitt Group's legal department is already standing by. The luxury unit Harry's living in now, when do you want it back?"
"No rush." I leaned against the cold wall of the elevator car and gave a cold little laugh.
"Let's take the Sanchez company back first!"
