What? ‘You should. It’s the truth. But I suppose you think I lined the photographer up too.’
‘It wouldn’t surprise me.’
As Phoebe realised that Alex genuinely believed what he was saying she felt as if he’d thumped her in the stomach. Surely he must know she’d never go to the press with any information about him or their affair. So why was he doing th
is? And why did it hurt quite so much? The backs of her eyes stung and she swallowed back the lump in her throat. ‘Don’t you trust me at all?’
The look on Alex’s face darkened and Phoebe felt her legs give way.
‘Oh, my God,’ she breathed in horror as she sank into an armchair. ‘You don’t, do you? You don’t trust me an inch.’
A muscle throbbed in his jaw. ‘It’s nothing personal. I don’t trust anyone.’
Nothing personal? Nothing personal? So why was her heart splintering? Why did she feel as if she were cracking open? She wanted to pummel him in the chest. Scratch his eyes out and pull him to pieces and hurt him as much as he was hurting her. ‘Why not? What happened? Did an ex-girlfriend run to the press with a kiss and tell?’
‘My ex-business partner ran to Bermuda with the contents of the company’s bank account.’
Oh. Phoebe went very still.
‘You once asked me about why I now work alone,’ he bit out. ‘Well, that’s why.’
She could see that. But still… ‘Alex, I’m not going to run off with your fortune.’
He raked his hands through his hair and his features suddenly twisted with such pain that Phoebe thought he was ill. And then his anger seemed to drain away and he looked wearier than she’d ever seen him. He slumped into a chair and rubbed a hand over his face.
‘Rob was the boyfriend the article in the paper mentioned,’ he said bleakly. ‘The one who bullied Jo and put her into hospital.’
Oh, God. ‘What happened?’
‘We made a lot of money very quickly. I invested in property and other things. He spent a fortune on drugs and gambling.’
Alex’s voice was flat, as if he were reciting the weather forecast. But his face was white and tight and she’d never seen such turmoil in his eyes.
‘He met Jo and they started dating behind my back.’
Phoebe’s heart squeezed and there wasn’t a thing she could do to stop it. ‘Why?’
Alex shrugged. ‘She was sixteen. Rob was twenty-six. I guess they knew I wouldn’t have approved. They went out for a year.’ His voice cracked. ‘A whole year and I didn’t have a clue.’
Phoebe didn’t know what to say. There was nothing she could say.
‘The business was going through a rapid expansion and I was too engrossed to notice. Too focused on making money. I didn’t notice how thin she was getting. And I didn’t pay enough attention to Rob’s increasingly erratic behaviour.’
No wonder he’d spent the last five years racked with guilt. Part of her wanted to jump up and take him in her arms. But the pain of his accusations was still too raw and she made herself stay where she was.
‘I caught him slapping her once.’
Phoebe’s hands flew to her mouth. ‘What did you do?’
‘I acquired a scar and the bump on my nose. Rob came off worse. He ended up in Casualty. A week later he disappeared and I discovered he’d cleared out our accounts.’ He shrugged. ‘I thought I knew him inside out. Turns out I didn’t know him at all. So if I do have an issue with trust I think it’s kind of understandable, don’t you?’
Phoebe’s heart wrenched. ‘Absolutely. Five years ago. But now? Still?’
‘It doesn’t go away.’
‘The guilt has.’
Alex frowned. ‘Maybe.’