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Whirling around slowly, I saw that my worst fears had some true, and Shane was standing there, in the flesh. What made it worse was that there was a woman clinging to him, beautiful, of course, who didn’t happen to be his wife.

I wasn’t surprised in the least bit to see that he was up to his old tricks.

“Babe,” he turned to her, flashing a smile. “Do me a favor and go ahead and grab the wine you wanted. I’ll be back in a sec.”

Dumbfounded, I watched as she displayed all thirty-two teeth before doing as he asked and leaving us alone.

Shane slipped his hands into his pocket, surveying me from head to toe.

“Damn, baby. You look good. Time almost made me forget how beautiful you are.”

I almost punched him in his face again. The nerve of him to stand in my face as if he hadn’t been part of blowing my entire life up.

“You can’t be serious?” I scoffed, working hard to keep a tight hold on my temper.

It wasn’t easy, in the least bit. But imagining Jamie’s face gave me the ammunition I needed to pull it off.

“You look upset,” his smile slowly melted.

“Upset?” My voice went up a few octaves. “Nigga, I’m pissed! Do you not realize the severity of what the fuck you did to me?”

“Nyx—”

“No,” I interrupted fiercely. “You don’t get to speak. Not after the shit that you’ve done.”

“Baby, you don’t understand. It wasn’t like that. She was going to leave and take everything.”

“Which is what the fuck you deserved!” Anger filled me until I was ready to burst. There was no way the man who’d helped his wife try to ruin my life was standing in my face pretending as though he was the victim. The sheer nerve of it had me ready to risk it all just to make him feel even a sliver of what I felt.

But again, Jamie’s face materialized. It was almost as if I could hear him advising me not to lose my head and go a different route. An idea surfaced almost immediately, one that would hopefully get me out of the hot water I was in. This was the break I’d been praying for.

“You know what,” I softened toward Shane, giving him a sweet smile as I retrieved my phone from my pocket. Tapping at the screen, I pretended to be busy typing out a text or scrolling social media. “You’re right. I should show a little more empathy. You were clearly caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Shane’s ego had to have been a mile wide because he visibly relaxed at my calmness. It was so hard to imagine I’d ever once been so in love with the man that I’d believe anything he told me. He was a spineless bitch, and I couldn’t wait for him to get what he deserved.

“Nyx, I hate the way things ended between us. I loved you; you know that. I still do. If it wasn’t for my daughter, I would have left my wife a long time ago.”

“I just don’t understand, Shane,” I shook my head. “You know I never knew about her or your daughter. Why would you lie and say I did?”

“I panicked when she threatened to leave and—I don’t know, baby. I fucked up. She had me by the balls and I did or said whatever was needed to get back in her good graces. I never meant for any of this to go so far.”

“Then end it and tell the truth,” I put on my biggest performance to date. “I don’t deserve this. I never did.”

“Nyx—”

“You ready, babe?” The woman accompanying Shane returned, sporting an annoyed expression. I’d planned on letting her know that he was playing her, but her attitude changed my mind. If she wanted to be nasty, she could figure it out the hard way like I had. I guess, like his wife, she too had an issue with him speaking to me, but neither of them had anything to worry about moving forward. It would be Shane and I’s final time speaking to one another.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Shane kissed her temple. I could have thrown up right there. If nothing else, the universe was showing me just how much time I’d wasted sitting around moping over such a shitty man. I hated how it happened, but more than ever, I appreciated how we’d been ripped apart. Shane had never been the man for me. Nor would he ever be.

“Yeah, love,” he smiled. “I’ll see you around Nyx.”

I nearly snorted as the two moved along, pressing the red square button on my phone screen to stop recording.

“No, sir, you most certainly will not.”

“Nyx, don’t take this the wrong way but—how the hell did you allow yourself to catch any type of feelings for this nigga?”

“Linc!” I fussed, tossing a pillow at him from my spot on the couch.