Page 70 of Between Love & Ruin

Two rings later he picks up my phone.

“What?” he barks, in the same arrogant tone.

Years of experience have made me aware that men who are secure in themselves rarely sound as arrogant as any insecure guy like him. They need that fake arrogance to protect their fragile egos.

“So you recognize my number,” I say, pressing on his nerves. The day he saw me with Sienna, I could sense the insecurity, the jealousy oozing out of him. Insecurity because, to him, Sienna didn’t deserve this big opportunity. And jealousy because even a blind person could sense the reality of emotions running between me and Sienna at that time. Only she was oblivious to it.

Mark was stupid but not this stupid to not notice it.

“I am flattered,” I add.

“What does Dominic Wolfe want from me?” he asks, his tone clipped.

“There’s absolutely nothing in this world that a person like you could give me,” I say, enunciating each word so that it registers in his thick skull. “I got to know what happened.”

“So she sent you—”

“She doesn’t know about this call,” I tell him. “You know she doesn’t give a fuck about you.”

“Then why waste my time?”

I roll my eyes, resting my head on the back of my chair. As if he were running a multi-million-dollar business.

“I knew she would replace me soon.”

“No,” I say. “You never made your presence in her life worthy enough to be replaced.”

“What exactly is your problem, Dominic? She gave you the sob story, didn’t she? " He adds fuel to the fire.

“Careful,” I say. “You don’t want to dig yourself a bigger hole. My problem is that you thought you could walk away easily after saying all that shit to my woman.”

“Yours?” he scoffs. “She was mine a day before. I told her the truth. She was lying and cheating. She got what she deserved.”

“That’s where you are wrong,” I say, getting up. This phone call is getting on my nerves because I can’t break his face through it. “She was never, ever yours. Not even when I wasn’t in the picture. You didn’t tell her the truth, Mark. You told her what insecure men such as yourself think.”

“You don’t know shit.”

“I know enough.”

“I know you made her feel pathetic.” Rage runs through my veins, but I picture her smile to calm me down. Always works the best.

“I know you made her feel like no one else would ever love her. And I know you made her question herself when she should’ve been questioning why she settled for someone like you.”

“She told you all that?”

“She didn’t have to.”

My jaw clenches. “Men like you follow the same script.”

His breathing grows heavier. “Are you done?”

“Not even close.”

I let the silence stretch just long enough for him to become uncomfortable.

“Listen carefully, Mark.” My voice drops an octave. I finally let out the words I had caged inside me the moment I saw him take her away from me that night.

“If you ever come anywhere near Sienna again, I’ll make sure you can’t find your fucking legs.”