Page 112

“To sell Stratus out from under me. This is same song, different verse for the Lunds. Did you know they convinced Becca to divorce me so I’d be forced to sell them the company, too?” When shock crosses Nia’s face, I give her a mocking nod. “Yep. I found that out today. She wanted the money to run away with Sebastian. Because she was in love with him. I also found that out today. But you…” I point an accusing finger at her. “I guess you decided to help your long-lost family screw me over and make a buck in the process. So they’d accept you? Never mind that none of them have been here for you your entire life. And never mind that I fucking loved you. Nope. I guess you were all about winning their favor so you wouldn’t be a sad little girl with no daddy anymore. And if you got to fuck me in more ways than one, even better.”

Her mouth gapes open. “Seriously? You think I’m guilty of all that? Are you listening to yourself?”

“I notice you’re not refuting anything I’m saying, Nia. I don’t hear a shred of logic.”

“Logic? Remember, you came after me. You proposed to me. You insisted on marrying me.” She sighs in frustration. “I chose to be your wife. I’m carrying your baby. How could you think I’d plot to take Stratus from you?”

“Um, you were having lunch with him behind my back.”

“That’s not what happened. He said he wanted to talk to me and swore it wasn’t about the buyout. I didn’t see any reason not to listen. I thought maybe I might even get some inside information to help you.”

Convenient. “Or get the same deal the Lunds were willing to cut Becca. One hundred fifty million dollars—plus half of all my assets from the divorce, of course. I can’t fault you for being greedy or needy or whatever. I fault myself for being too emotional to see it. Fuck that. Never again.”

There doesn’t seem to be anything left to say. Looking at her hurts. I know every angle of her face. I know each curve of her body intimately. I thought I knew her heart equally well, and to be proven so viciously wrong is stabbing me in the chest and wrecking my soul.

I spin around and march for the door.

“If you leave this house without talking it out, we’re done,” she warns. “That will tell me you don’t love me and you’re not ready to be married.”

She’s threatening me…but not refuting me. Oh, she asked me some rhetorical questions designed to make me think twice, but she didn’t really defend her decision. Because she fucking can’t.

My throat closes up. My chest buckles. Why did she have to break me like this?

“Oh, honey, we were done the minute you made a deal with the devil. I can’t stop you from cutting off my balls and forcing me to sell Stratus in order to give you half its value in the divorce. I wasn’t smart enough to protect myself. But you’ll have to live with the fact I’ll never forgive you.”

As I slam my way out the door, she follows and yanks it open, calling after me. “You’ll have to live with being completely wrong. You want the truth? Here you go: I have loved you since the moment I came to work for you. I said yes to you that night at the burlesque club because there was no way I could say no after pining for three years. I have never betrayed you. I never would. Stephen told me a freaking hour ago that I’m his sister. He sought me out against his father’s wishes. What you overheard was the two of us planning to let everyone know that we intend to recognize each other as family. That’s what I thought you wouldn’t be happy about. But now that I know what you really think of me, Evan? Go. And don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Nia gives said door a decisive slam and locks herself inside the cottage.

I blink, stare, replay her speech in my head. The heat begins to bleed from my anger. Is it possible she’s telling me the truth, that Lund Junior approached her a mere hour ago? That they weren’t talking about betraying me? Is there any chance I misunderstood everything and was wrong about everything? Most especially about her?

Chapter Eighteen

Maui, Hawaii

Sunday, December 24

* * *

Fuck, I should have stayed in Seattle. I could have sulked in the cold. It would have better matched my mood. Instead, I came to paradise for the holidays, where I married and first made love to Nia as my wife.

For some reason, my misery is more acute since it’s sunny and seventy-two degrees. Or is that my imagination and I’d be despondent regardless of where I am? Yeah, that’s the more likely scenario.

I’m not functioning well without Nia—and not because I can’t cook or clean or do my own laundry. I’ve learned to be a lot more self-sufficient because of her. But since we split, sleeping is a no-go. Concentration is even more laughable. Socializing is an absolute fail. And screw holiday cheer. I arrived in Maui yesterday, and I’ve barely mustered the energy to talk to Harlow and Noah. I’m staying with them because they have a ton of bedrooms in their palatial love nest, and I can’t sleep in the house I bought for Nia and me to spend our lives together. Nor can I bring myself to sell it. I’m not ready to let go of the memories. The minute I landed on the island, I went there, sat on the bed, and just…remembered.

She’s never coming back. I deeply suspect that. I’ve had a week to come to the conclusion that I irrevocably fucked up the best thing that ever happened to me.

An hour after I left Nia’s cottage that confusing, awful day, she texted to say my stuff was on her front porch. Twenty minutes later, I had two emails in my inbox. The first was a resignation letter, effective immediately. The second stated that she rescinded any and all claim to Stratus in the event of our divorce.

I spent the rest of the day mulling over everything, sorting through the facts to find a logical conclusion. But my common sense no longer functions properly when it comes to Nia. I’m not sure it ever did. Her conversation with Stephen Lund seemed to prove her obvious guilt, so I acted accordingly.

But as soon as she slammed the door between us for the final time, instinct kicked in. I started second-guessing everything.

Would Nia, the woman who’s been my invaluable right hand for years, betray me? Or try to separate me from Stratus for her own gain? Would she really cheat me? Would she bother to release me from my financial obligations if she was simply plotting to climb over me to brighten her future?

No.

She’s smarter than that. She’s also more honest.