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His eyes watched me, remaining hard and emotionless. “I’m sorry for what happened. Really, I am. I’ve felt like shit about it every moment since then.”
“Right.”
“I mean that.”
I avoided his look and stared out the window.
There was a long pause. “You have nothing else to offer me, Scarlett. Accept my conditions, and let’s move forward.”
My eyes flicked back to him. “You owe me.”
His eyes narrowed. “I owe you?”
“When my father told me what you did, I believed you. I didn’t look it up on the internet, and I still haven’t. I had faith in the man I knew—and I maintained that faith without a shadow of a doubt.”
The hardness in his eyes started to weaken.
“And then you stabbed me in the fucking back.” My voice shook, but I controlled it, refusing to show any sign of tears. “When you tried to dump me, I assumed there was something I was missing, because the man I knew would never do that to me. I even asked my father if he’d said something to you, even though I knew he didn’t, but because I believed in you, in us, so deeply.”
His expression was different, focused and angry. “And what did he say?”
“No, of course.”
His jaw clenched slightly before he rubbed his palm across his mouth.
“I stood by you when no one else did,” I said. “You fucking owe me.”
His eyes drifted away, and he seemed to be lost in thought because he ignored me.
“Axel.”
He slowly turned back to me.
“You know I’m right,” I said gently. “So please, give him back a fair portion.”
He considered my words a long time, but he seemed far angrier than he had been at the start of this conversation. “You’re right. You’re the only woman who’s ever trusted me so implicitly. And that’s why I’m giving you the chance to get your business back—by marrying me. I have no desire to offer your father anything. Giving him a portion of the business is merely a gesture, and I can take it away whenever I feel like it. But when you’re my wife, I can’t take it away from you. It’s legally yours.”
The disappointment rushed through me.
“I already said you couldn’t run this business on your own. You saw how Theo and I crossed your father, and he was none the wiser. If it weren’t for you, I would have carved his eyes out with my butter knife.” He cocked his head slightly and looked at me, like a king sitting on his throne in his palace. “A lot of horrible shit happens in this world, and you have no clue. You need someone like me to watch your back the way I watch my front. You need someone whom people respect and fear. You need a husband who will slit throats and break skulls for just looking at his wife the wrong way.”
“Then how about I marry Theo instead?” I asked, just to get a rise out of him.
It worked—because his stare turned angry. “You don’t love him.”
“But I could love him. And there’s no chance I would ever love you.”
The fire filled the room with warmth, forcing the cold air back to the windows. It was quiet, the flames crackling in the hearth, the raindrops kissing the glass in the background. A few lamps were on in the corners, but overall, this was a dark room, with the exception of the fire. A heavy tension filled the space between us, his anger palpable but invisible.
After an endless silence and a vicious stare, he spoke. “Marry me—or lose your business.”
“Wow, that’s so romantic.” I looked at the fire. “To have the chance to marry a cheating liar?—”
“I didn’t cheat on you.”
“Sure.”
“I didn’t.” He didn’t raise his voice, but his anger was seething. “I wish you would trust me as you did before?—”
“That trust is gone, Axel. Gone forever, never to return.” I’d learned my lesson and would never forget it. “Maybe you did all those horrible things and I was too naïve to see it. I’m like that dumb woman who’s the last to know her husband is fucking every woman he meets.”
He was quiet, his face tinted red slightly, the cords in his neck popping.
“I should go.” I rose to my feet. “This conversation is over.”
Axel stared at me for a few more seconds before he got to his feet. Six-foot-something of muscles and tightness. He was a big man in the armchair, but now, he was a behemoth on his feet. He stayed on his side of the table as he stared at me, his hands sliding into the pockets of his sweatpants. “My offer still stands.”
Those blue eyes used to stare at me all night. They used to make me feel cherished, feel secure, like there was no other woman who could even catch his eye. But now they made me feel empty…and broken. “Goodbye, Axel.”
