Chapter 17

Kat Evans slammed her front door. She was sick and tired of men using her, toying with her, and then brushing her off like she was a gnat. At that moment, she realized that her mother had been right all along. Men were good for nothing. She stomped to the den. To think she had gone over there to tell Scott that she was attracted to him – that she was crazy about him and his son. She should have known that someone like him thought he could do whatever he wanted to anybody he wanted.

 She plopped down in the wood chair behind the old rickety desk that had drink rings all over it. She opened the portfolio book that was full of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and pictures of Scott Jenkins, a.k.a. Scott Kelly.

She had learned his real identity last year by accident. Kat had been taking a business class at the local community college to learn how to expand her jewelry business on Etsy. The class required Kat to turn in a report on a self-made entrepreneur. It counted for forty percent of her final grade. She had gone online to do research. After floundering through the mass maze online, she had gone to the library to see if she could get some direction. One of the librarians suggested she do her report on local self-made entrepreneurs. The librarian directed her to their hardcopy business archives. Kat’s jaw had hit the floor when she saw Scott on a twelve-year-old Forbes cover. She had read the article, and at the time, Scott had a net worth of eight hundred million dollars. After further research, his net worth over the years had ballooned to over a billion dollars. However, Kat couldn’t find the exact number of what he was worth since he had dropped out of the limelight seven years ago. From her research, she had figured out that Scott had gone undercover after a nasty public divorce. She had done her report on Scott and had gotten an A minus.

She had liked Scott all along and found him attractive. Finding out that he was rich was just a bonus. She had done everything she could to get his attention. When he had first moved into the neighborhood, he kept to himself. He would wave at the neighbors, but he avoided conversations at all costs. It had taken Scott four years to feel comfortable chatting with her and the rest of the neighbors. When he had started attending cookouts and small dinner parties, she figured he had come out of his shell.

Her husband had left her by then. Hank Sr. was a selfish bastard. He was never satisfied with anything. Of course, he hadn’t been like that when Kat first met him, but after she had Hank, her husband had changed. He had started selling drugs a few years after Hank was born. The lifestyle of a drug dealer was more exciting than being a husband and father, so Hank Sr. packed up his clothes, told Kat that he was taking the car, gave her five thousand dollars, and left. He didn’t even say goodbye to his son.

However, Kat wasn’t bitter – not yet. She was relieved he was gone. Her ex-husband was going to get into trouble eventually, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near him when his ways caught up to him. She had thought she would find someone else. Unfortunately, she had found out that the dating pool of today was full of sex addicts, liars, and little boys who masqueraded as men who couldn’t support themselves financial. That’s when she had started to become bitter. But then, she started spending time with Scott Jenkins. Their kids got along great, and Scott and Kat had easy conversations. 

Kat shook her head as she stared at the information in her scrapbook. “I would have kept quiet if you had proven to be a different man. You need to be made an example of, Scott. Men can’t keep going around treating women like they are meat with no feelings.”