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I stepped into the room, and her head immediately turned when she heard me. Instead of remaining in her chair, she got to her feet, her hands immediately coming together at her waist, something she did when she was nervous.
I stared at her.
She stared at me.
My heart raced like an off-beat drum.
Her expression was composed, but her eyes were a little wider than they normally were, showing the same adrenaline that I was sure raced in her veins.
I came closer to her, standing near the fire.
She didn’t look at my bare chest, her eyes glued to mine.
I glanced at her bag on the table. The top was closed, so I couldn’t see the contents inside. My eyes flicked back to hers, desperate to know the reason for her visit. If she wanted me back, I expected a different reception than this guarded one. If she wanted a divorce, she could just mail the papers.
She broke eye contact first, her breaths so elevated that her chest visibly rose and fell. She looked at the fire for a few seconds before she found the strength to look at me again. But no words were forthcoming.
I didn’t want to speak first. I wanted to know what she wanted before I made an idiot out of myself.
But she still didn’t talk.
“If you have something to say, you should say it. Otherwise, I’m going to kiss you. I’m going to kiss you and make love to you. I’m going to make love to you and tie you up so you can’t leave me again.”
Her gaze flicked away, and the firelight reflected off the tears in her eyes. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and that told me that these last few weeks had been as agonizing for her as they’d been for me.
I hadn’t taken off my wedding ring since the day I’d put it on. I still wore it now—because I hoped she would come back. Being married to the wrong person in the past had shown me I wasmarried to the right person now. But there was a fucking snake in our bed, biting at our heels and making us bleed.
“I—I wanted to talk to you.” She wasn’t the confident woman that I knew. She was practically in shambles, so unsure of herself that she couldn’t stand still. Her body swayed slightly like a flower stem in the breeze. She couldn’t hold eye contact for long, always darting her gaze away when it became too much for her.
I swallowed the disappointment. “Say what you want to say.”
She moved back to the armchair that she’d occupied previously.
My fantasy of a scorching-hot kiss in front of the blazing fireplace was extinguished. The disappointment was bitter, and the anger was sharp. It took me a second to move to the corner of the couch closest to her and give her my attention without looking enraged.
She stared at her hands for a moment. “I talked to my father…”
I sucked in a sharp breath, feeling an accumulation of shock and hope. I’d begged him to tell her the truth so I could get her back, but that request had seemed to fall on deaf ears. But perhaps seeing how miserable she was gave him a change of heart.
“He told me that love deserves a second chance sometimes.”
My heart dropped like a stone in a flat pond. The ripples stretched out endlessly.
“He believes you really love me.”
Anyone who saw us together would believe that. “You came here to talk about us, but it sounds like you only want to talk about your father.” My temper made me lash out like an angry child. It was stupid on my part, but I was pissed off that Dante didn’t dothe right thing and tell her the truth. He took the coward’s way out and tried to get around his lies.
She flinched at the aggression in my voice. “I’m trying to tell you I’ve thought things over?—”
“No, your father whispered in your ear, and whatever opinion he has, you have.”
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine in horror.
She’d come here to work things out, but I was too pissed off to care. I chose to burn down the house—and our relationship with it. “I’m tired of being in bed with your father. I’m tired of this being a fucking threesome. I’m tired of your father having the power to interfere and influence this relationship with the snap of his fingers. Scarlett, we’re married, which means we’re family. But I’ve never been treated like family.”
Her eyes continued to water. “I said I want to work on this relationship?—”
“There is no working on this relationship,” I snapped. “I’ve kissed the ground you walk on from the moment I saw you. Your father is the one who tore us apart like a flimsy piece of paper. You either believe me or you don’t—and you clearly don’t. I spoke to your father last week and fucking begged him to come clean, but he refused. Instead, he chose to stay in the shadows and pull your strings like the puppet you are. Tried to get the same outcome without the transparency. That’s not how I want you, Scarlett. I want you to march in here and tell me you love me and can’t live without me. You think sitting here listening to you say your father gave his approval of our relationship makes me hard? You think that’s romantic? You think I want to hear that shit?” I got to my feet and moved back to the fire. “I haven’tleft the house in two weeks. I’ve been fucking miserable. Sitting around waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass and come back to me. But that’s clearly not going to happen. So get the fuck out of my house.”
