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“Thanks, Aldo.”
He headed to the stairs then disappeared on to the next floor.
I walked into the parlor. I’d left my purse in the car along with the mountain-sized stack of paperwork Axel had served me. Instead of taking a seat, I stood in front of the cold fireplace, remembering the last conversation we’d had in this room. It had echoed in my mind every day since I’d run for cover.
Aldo returned minutes later—alone. “He says he doesn’t want to see you.” He stood with his arms behind his back, his look somber, like he truly regretted what he had to say. “I’m sorry, Scarlett.”
I blinked a couple times as I processed the rejection. Axel had always been there for me, at my beck and call, and now I knew how it felt to be like everyone else. To be unremarkable. Unimportant. It fucking hurt. “I—I really need to speak with him.”
“There’s nothing I can do,” he said quietly. “He’s been in a mood since you were last here.”
So he was still pissed off. Really pissed off. I looked out the double doors into the hallway and swallowed. “I need to see him, and I’m not leaving here until I do.” I moved through the double doors and toward the stairs.
“Scarlett.” Aldo’s frantic voice came from behind me. “I can’t let you do that.”
“Then you’re going to have to manhandle me,” I said as I took two steps at a time. “And good luck with that.”
“Scarlett.” He continued to chase me, going around the banister and up the next flight of stairs behind me. “I promise you this is not a good idea. Stop. I said, stop.”
I made it to the hallway and walked at a brisk pace, my pulse pounding in my neck and making the skin throb. The door was in sight, and the adrenaline made me glide across the runner over the wooden floorboards.
“Scarlett, don’t go in there.”
I stopped at the door and looked at him, the horror hitting me in the chest. “Why? Does he… Is there someone in there?”
He heaved as he caught up to me, bent slightly at the waist because the stairs took a toll on him. It took him seconds to formwords, like he hadn’t gotten that much exercise in decades, even though he walked up those stairs every single day.
“Does he?” I repeated, afraid of the answer.
His hands went to his hips, and he stopped in front of me. “Yes.”
A sledgehammer hit me right in the chest, breaking all my ribs and then smashing my heart. I didn’t know I could be so heartbroken and so nauseous at the same time, but I was about to vomit on the rug.
Aldo lowered his voice. “Come on, let’s go.”
Just as I took a step away, the door opened.
There Axel stood, in nothing but his sweatpants, both beautiful and terrifying. His blue eyes were cold like the Arctic Circle, and that harsh stare seemed to be permanently reserved for me. He regarded me as his enemy, not his friend, not his wife. It was like he hated me. “What do you want?”
All I could picture was another blonde in his bed, a woman without a face but with huge tits and a juicy ass, sleeping in the bed that had belonged to me just two weeks ago. “If you’re already fucking around, I guess I never meant that much to you.” My time alone had been spent with wine and tears. His had been spent with scotch and tits. I didn’t bother sharing what I’d come all the way down here to tell him. It seemed significant knowing he had already kissed someone else, fucked someone else…
His eyes narrowed. “What did you just say to me?”
I sidestepped Aldo and headed down the hallway.
He raised his voice. “I asked you a question.”
I ignored him, barely able to contain my tears at this point.
Aldo spoke with a trembling voice. “I didn’t know how else to stop her, so I told her you were with someone?—”
“You did what?”
I stopped when I got to the stairs, stilled by the rage in his voice.
“You’re dismissed, Aldo. Pack up your shit and leave. Now.”
I peeked over my shoulder, seeing the two men stare each other down.
