His Test Cost Him a Wife, Not a Negotiation novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Note
Dorinda's POV
Winslow was standing in the hotel lobby at six in the morning with a laptop under his arm.
He had not slept, and neither had we.
My father sat in an armchair with his coffee, Pearl was curled beside him with her boots on the cushion, and Soren stood by the elevator with his arms folded.
Winslow came toward me and stopped six feet away.
"I'm not here to ask you for anything," he said.
"Good."
"I want to say it out loud, in front of your family."
"Go ahead," I said.
He drew a breath.
"I took your school email and sent it to my laptop. I read your offers before you did, twice, and I declined them in your name, and the second time I made it rude so you'd be ashamed to ask again."
"I hid the third email, which was a deferral, and opened it eleven times and never answered."
"I told you that you couldn't leave because you'd lose the future we had. It was a future I had already taken from you."
He looked at my father.
"Mr. Pauley, I also told you the money on your house was a gift. I knew it was a note. I let you sign it."
My father put his cup down on the table.
"Son," he said, quite gently. "That's the first honest thing you've said to me."
Winslow's face twisted.
"I'm sorry," he said to me. "I know that it's too late."
"It is," I said.
"I know."
"No, I mean it. I want you to hear me say it." My voice shook, and I let it. "I'm not going to say it's all right. I'm not going to say I forgive you by Christmas. You stole three years of my life and called it love."
"Yes."
"I'm glad you read it. I'm glad you finally know what it said."
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