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didn’t want his pity or, worse, his accusation that she’d make up such a lie.
    â€œRight away I got mugged, and Patrick Mulroney rescued me. I had no money, no place to go, no one to turn to, so he offered to help. He let me stay in one of his apartments. He loaned me the money to get back on my feet. He even got me a job with a friend of his.”
    Josh’s gaze raked over her, from the top of the shaggy red hair she hated over her ill-fitting clothes to her chunky boots. She knew he was remembering the expensive clothes she’d worn back then, the pricey car she’d driven…and the pretty, well-dressed prostitutes who contributed greatly to the Mulroneys’ bottom line. The cynicism in his eyes echoed in his voice, cold and hard. “What kind of job?”
    Her stomach muscles clenched. “Secretary. For a plumbing supply company.” She’d earned about a tenth of what that expensive apartment must have cost each month, but she’d thought Patrick was helping her out of the kindness of his heart. She’d been so naive. Given the family she’d grown up with, how had she convinced herself that there were people with kindness in their hearts?
    It was impossible to tell if Josh believed her. Though onthe surface he appeared as easygoing as ever, there was a subtle stiffness to his movements, born of anger, resentment, hostility—all the ugly emotions he’d never shown her in the past. “So you live off Patrick’s generosity for a while, and one day he comes to you and says, ‘It’s time to pay up?’”
    â€œNo.” Natalia would like to think such bluntness would have been enough to send her on the run again. Yes, she’d taken advantage of everything he’d offered, but she’d worked hard. She had paid back every penny of the cash he’d loaned her. She’d rarely driven the car he’d provided, and she had been saving to get her own place. She had intended to get back on her feet, in accordance with his original offer, and live on her own.
    She had never guessed he had other plans.
    â€œHe came to me one day and said there was a guy who worked for him who was up to something. He didn’t know if it was just stealing from the company, or using it to cover up something worse. He wanted someone to keep an eye on him—on you—but you knew everyone who worked for him. He asked if I would do this favor for him.”
    Again, it was impossible to tell if Josh believed her or thought she was lying to make herself sound less culpable. She wasn’t trying to get rid of the guilt; it had become such an ingrained part of her that she wouldn’t know how to live without it. She just wanted to answer his questions and get him out of her life because it had taken her too damn long to learn to live without him the first time, and she was older now. Wearier.
    â€œAnd you owed him so much, you just couldn’t tell him no.”
    She shrugged. Patrick Mulroney had been the first person in her life who’d cared. He’d truly saved her that night in the dimly lit alley. He’d restored her faith in people.
    And he’d had an ulterior motive all along. Maybe he hadn’t immediately seen her as a way to control Josh, but he’d known that someday, somehow, she would come in handy. All he’d had to do was show her a little kindness, and she’d been so grateful that she would have done anything he asked.
    Even betray the man she’d fallen in love with.
    â€œSo spying on me, screwing with me, sleeping with me—that was all just payback for him taking care of you.” He was trying to keep his voice level—she knew him well enough to recognize it—but there was an edge to it that he couldn’t control. Anger? Disgust?
    Hurt? Had she hurt him?
    The thought had never occurred to her. She’d known he would hate her when he found out the truth, had known he would be angry at