by Penelope Sky
“I…I don’t know.”
“If he knows you’ve fallen in love with someone else, he should let you be happy.”
“I know, but we were married before. We both pictured us spending our lives together—”
“And then he slept with someone else. All the events were triggered by him—and him alone.”
“Doesn’t mean he deserves to be treated like this. He’s been really understanding and patient about all this—”
“Because he’s the one who fucked up, Annabella.”
I hadn’t expected to have a debate when I’d walked in here. “At the end of the day, I married him. And marriage is about commitment…until death. I can’t just change my mind about that. I have to see it through.”
That was when she dropped her argument. “Well, I’m really going to miss you.”
“I know. I’m gonna miss you too.”
She reached across the desk, her hand outstretched.
I placed my hand on top of hers. “I’ll still be here two weeks…”
“You don’t have to stay that long, Anna. But I appreciate it.” She squeezed me before pulling away. “There’s a ton of people who will apply for that job once it’s posted.”
“I know. it’s a good job.”
“So…have you told Damien?”
I shook my head.
“Are you going to? Or would you rather me do it?”
I didn’t want to have a painful goodbye conversation. He would try to convince me to change my mind, and it would just…be terrible. “You should do it. And tell him not to call me. It’ll just make it harder.”
27
Damien
I’d just locked up my computer when my phone rang. I probably would have ignored it, but since it was Sofia, I answered quickly. “What’s up?” I put the laptop into the safe drilled into the floor and shut the door. An audible click sounded when the safe was secure.
“You got a minute?”
“I got all the minutes for you, sweetheart.”
She chuckled. “Don’t let Hades hear you talk like that.”
“What’s he going to do?” I sat back down in my leather chair. “I’ll fight him for you.”
She chuckled again. “That’s romantic…”
“So, did you need something?”
“Well…this isn’t going to be a pleasant conversation.”
That warning was enough to silence me. Now I could feel the pulse in my ears, feel the dread in my blood. “Everything okay?”
“Hades and I are fine. It’s about Anna.”
Now I couldn’t breathe. My throat tightened into a ball and fell into my stomach.
“She submitted her resignation this afternoon. She and Liam are relocating to London to have a fresh start.”
“What?” I barked.
“She wanted me to tell you because she doesn’t want you to call.”
“Is she still there?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is she in the office?”
“Uh…I think so. But Damien, she doesn’t want to talk to you—”
“That’s too fucking bad. Don’t let her leave, alright?”
“Damien—”
“I caught Liam cheating on her a few nights ago.”
Sofia went dead silent.
“I wanted to see if he would come clean himself. Obviously not.”
“Oh my god… Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I have proof.”
“Oh Jesus…that poor girl.”
“So that asshole is putting all the blame on her so they can move. Fucking piece of shit. I’ve got to go.”
“Damien—”
I hung up.
Hades entered my office. “Sounds like a pleasant conversation…”
“Liam didn’t tell her.” I walked around my desk and joined him in the doorway.
“Why do you look surprised?”
“I’m going down to the hotel to talk to her. Send me that video.”
He pulled out his phone and texted it to me. “What’s your plan?”
“I just told you.”
“But once you tell her, she’ll confront Liam. And when she does, he’ll know you snitched.”
“You think I give a damn?”
“And he’ll know that your name isn’t a coincidence…”
There was no way to hide my identity this time. The truth would come out, and I’d have to deal with the consequences.
Hades continued to study me. “Just want to make sure you’re aware of the full situation. Because Liam is a fighter—and this will start a war. You have to ask yourself, is she worth it?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
He held my gaze with the same intensity. “Then I’m with you.”
I stepped inside her office with no preamble. I knew this was the beginning for us, so that electrified me with excitement. My fingers tightened into fists over and over, my muscles pumped with so much blood.
But I was also packed with dread…because this would hurt her.
Tear her apart.
She’d just finished stacking a pile of papers on her desk, probably finishing up all her projects before she left for good. When she saw me in the doorway, her eyes popped wide in shock, as if she’d expected me to actually listen to Sofia and leave her alone.
Didn’t she know me at all?
I shut the door behind me and approached the desk.
She got to her feet, immediately combative. “Damien, nothing you say is gonna change my mind. You’re just making this hard—”
“Shut up and listen to me.” I placed my palms flat on her desk.
She stilled then slowly lowered herself back into the chair.
Now that I had the moment in my grasp, I didn’t want to execute it. I already knew exactly how her face would look when I told her the news, that her husband was still the same piece of shit he’d already been. That was how I knew I really loved her…because I wasn’t selfish. “The night of your fight, I ran into Liam at the bar at the casino. He was drunk…and hooking up with some woman.”
She stilled at my words, not blinking as she processed what I said.
“I tried to get him to go home, but he wouldn’t. He told me what you did and said he was free to do whatever he wanted. He said he wouldn’t tell you what he did, but I thought he might feel differently when he was sober.”
Still, she said nothing. She started to breathe harder, the anger and pain beginning to infect her blood. “Why did you wait so long to tell me?”
“Because I hoped he’d man up and confess.”
She finally broke our contact and stared at the desk. She pressed her flat palms against the wood, the sweat leaving moisture that outlined each individual feature. “He wouldn’t do that…”
Denial was the last thing I’d expected to hear from her.
“He wouldn’t do that to me, not after everything we’ve been through—”
“Annabella, he did. I saw it.”
She wouldn’t look at me. “How do I know you aren’t lying just to get between us?”
Fuck, that was a punch to the sternum. “Because you know I wouldn’t do that shit.”
“You’re desperate to break us apart—”
“Shut the fuck up.” I wouldn’t sit there and listen to her torch my reputation when it was all bullshit. “I know you’re hurt and you’re lashing out, so I’m gonna let that go. But you better shut your mouth right now.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and set it on the desk. “I have a video…if you want to see.”
She stared at it for a while, considering it, but then she turned the phone over. “I can’t see that…” She put her hands to her face and covered her features, taking a few moments to breathe through the pain she’d just endured.
I gave her the time she needed.
She finally pulled her hands away, her eyes slightly wet like she’d let herself shed a few tears before she bucked up. “The second we hit a bump in the road, he give
s up. For a man who fights to the death, I don’t understand why he throws in the towel so easily.” She slowly rose to her feet and took a deep breath.
I studied her, unsure what she would do.
“This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t…” She didn’t finish the sentence because she was ashamed. “But I never, even at my weakest moments, would ever think of doing something like that…”
I knew that all too well.
“I just don’t understand,” she whispered.
“He said he deserved a get-out-of-jail-free card because of what you did. But he was drunk when he said it.”
She stared at her desk.
I’d just crushed her, but I wanted to clean up all the pieces and make it better.
“Do you want to know—”
“I’d rather not.” She straightened her spine and inhaled a deep breath as she prepared for what was next. “I’m sorry about what I—”
“It’s forgotten.”
She wouldn’t look at me, her eyes down.
“What are you going to do?”
She sighed again then moved around the desk. “I’m gonna kick his ass—that’s what.”
28
Annabella
I was blindsided.
I’d trusted Liam more than I realized because I hadn’t expected this at all. It was almost too ridiculous to believe because he’d have to be an idiot not to learn his lesson. I stepped through the front door and slammed it behind me. It didn’t snap off the hinges like it did with Liam, but it was still a strong enough slam to make the house vibrate. “Where the fuck are you, asshole?” I stormed into the house, my heels echoing against the hardwood floor as I made my way into the living area.
He stood at the kitchen island, still as if he was actually afraid of me. He’d just taken a pan out of the oven, and he gently pulled the red oven mitts off his hands as he stared. Instead of asking questions like an innocent person, he took the Fifth.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You come into this house and boss me around like that, when you’re the one fucking someone else the last few days?”
Still quiet.
There was a picture of us on our wedding day. My long dress trailed behind me, and I looked away as he kissed my forehead. I yanked it off the wall then slammed it down onto the floor, where it shattered into pieces. “You make me pack up my life and move when you’re the one getting laid at the bar? You make me feel like shit for not being over a man I never cheated on you with—even when I wanted to? Who the fuck do you think you are?” My hands moved to my hips, and I stood my ground, so furious that I would smack him upside the head if he came too close.
He continued to stay quiet, as if he was thinking of a plan to get him out of this. He finally came around the kitchen island and slowly approached me. “Baby—”
“You wanna die, asshole?” There was a block of knives on the counter, and I grabbed the big one, the one with the serrated edge that sliced through thick pieces of steak. I gripped the handle and pointed it at him. “Don’t fucking ‘baby’ me.”
He held up his hands in surrender.
“I can’t believe you would do this to me.” Angry tears entered my gaze, making my vision blurry. My fingers tightened on the handle. “I trusted you. I actually believed you’d just made a mistake and you were a good man. But the second our lives got difficult, you pulled the same bullshit again.”
He stepped back and slowly lowered his hands, obviously afraid I might actually stab him. “Anna—”
“And you were just never going to tell me? What the hell is wrong with you? How dare you treat me like a criminal when your crimes are far worse than mine? You were really going to let me leave my job and my life and never tell me what you did.”
“I don’t know what you think happened—”
I lunged at him.
“Shit.” He ran back and got behind the kitchen counter.
“Don’t fucking lie to me, Liam. You’re only making this worse.”
He finally stopped the bullshit. “How do you think that made me feel, hearing you say some other asshole’s name when I was inside you?”
“How much worse would you have felt if I’d fucked him instead?” I snapped. “But I never did. He kissed me, and I said no. He told me he loved me and we should be together, but I stayed with you.”
“You didn’t tell me that before—”
“Doesn’t fucking matter. And you didn’t have the balls to tell me yourself.”
He gripped the counter and bowed his head. “Anna, I was just angry about the whole thing. I had too much to drink, and I just—”
“I don’t want the specifics.” Hearing him actually admit it made me feel so terrible, made me want to burst into tears. I felt so stupid falling for his false promises, his sexy charm. I was the dumb girl who kept taking her cheating ex back while expecting things to be different. I’d married him because he was safe, but he wasn’t safe at all. “Your decision is unacceptable. Our crimes are not equivalent. You had every right to be angry. You had every right to want your space. You had every right to want to move somewhere else so we could get a fresh start. But you did not have the right to fuck someone else.” I threw the knife down, and it slid across the floor. “We’re done, Liam.”
When he saw the world burn around him, he finally softened into the man I knew, the one with the heart of gold. “Anna, hold on.” He came around the island now that the knife was on the floor.
I held up my hand. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
“You made mistakes, and I did too. But you never gave me a real chance. You said you did, but you never did—”
“I married you!”
“But I had to compete with that asshole. If that hadn’t been a problem, we’d be fine right now.”
“If you hadn’t cheated the first time, we’d be fine right now,” I corrected.
“Anna, let’s move to London like we planned and start over. A fresh start for both of us.”
I rolled my eyes and turned away. “Fuck off.”
He grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me back. “Please.”
I twisted out of his grasp and kneed him right in the dick.
“Fuck…” He fell to his knees and covered his balls.
“We’re done, Liam. I’ll come back for the rest of my stuff in a few days.” I walked away and headed down the hallway. I grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed it with the essentials. After I zipped it up, I pulled off my ring and left it on the vanity—exactly where I’d left it the other two times. This was the last time.
When Liam recovered from the attack, he joined me. “Anna, let’s talk about this.”
“No.” I pulled the strap over my shoulder and faced him. He blocked the doorway so I couldn’t get out. I was cornered like a rat. “Move.”
“I’m sorry, okay?” Emotion flooded his eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry. They didn’t mean anything to me—”
“They?” My blood boiled. “Get the hell out of my way, Liam.”
“You said he didn’t mean anything to you when you said his name. Well, they didn’t mean anything to me.”
“But he does mean something to me,” I snapped. “I still love him, and I rejected him so many times because I was committed to you. So, there’s no excuse you can make to justify what you did. You can’t pin this on me. Now, move, or I’ll scratch your eyes out.”
His feet were rooted to the spot.
“Keeping me here isn’t going to change anything, Liam. Making me your prisoner won’t make me forgive you. It won’t fix this. If you wanted to fix this, you could have stayed home and screamed at me until you lost your voice. You could have demolished this entire house. You could have done anything you wanted. But you chose to leave. Now, let me leave.”
His eyes started to gloss with tears. His large arms stayed by his sides, and he made fists with both hands, like he wanted to fight until his last breath. But defeat was in his veins. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop
this. Love wouldn’t be enough to fix this…not this time. He finally stepped to the side.
When the pathway was clear, I moved forward. I marched down the hallway, ready to leave that house and move on with my life. It used to be full of so many memories, but now those memories had been torched by his betrayal. I used to believe there was so much here, that we had something special, but now I realized that was all a lie.
We were never special.
I got a room at the Tuscan Rose and camped out there for a few days. I didn’t go to work, but I didn’t need to explain why. Sofia must have learned everything from Damien because she texted me.
Take all the time you need. Your desk will be here when you’re ready.
I was so lucky to have a boss like her.
But I wasn’t lucky to be me right now.
I ordered room service for all my meals and charged everything to Liam’s account. He left me alone for the first few days, but then his impatience got to him and he started to text me.
Baby, please talk to me.
Anna?
I know I fucked up…but we can fix it.
I got so angry about that last message I blocked his number altogether. I didn’t have a concrete plan at the moment. I’d have to find a divorce lawyer to finalize the paperwork. Then I’d have to find a place to live and figure out the financial situation with Liam. But for now, I’d rather watch movies and cry into a pile of tissues.
Sometimes, I was so heartbroken by what he did that I got lost in my tears. At other times, I told myself that he wasn’t worth my tears, that he only deserved my hostility and indifference. But then the cycle would repeat over and over.
A knock sounded at my door.
Liam was too stupid to figure out where I was, so I suspected it was Damien. I’d expected him to come sooner, but he probably understood I needed my space, that there was nothing he could do for me right now.
In sweats and a t-shirt with a tear-stained face, I opened the door without even looking who was on the other side.
It was Damien. In a black t-shirt and jeans, he stood with his hands in his pockets, his eyes focused on mine like they had a story to tell. They shifted back and forth as they continued to examine me, wanting to see me smile rather than frown.