AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Liam’s deployment. They approached him the other day at the general store. Witnessed it myself. Such an honorable thing to head back into the trenches and fight for our country. You would think he’s seen enough, but I guess there’s nothing to see here, so there he goes.”
A sudden heaviness slams against my chest. I shake my head in denial. Liam wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t do that to us. “You’re lying,” I spit out, clenching my fists.
“Why would I lie?”
“Because you’re a conniving bitch.” She sucks in a breath while a few bystanders stare our way. Tears well in my eyes. I squeeze them shut to fight them back.
I inhale a staggered breath, then turn to the crowd as Liam’s float comes into view. He’s smiling. He looks happy. So damn happy. He signed up for another tour to leave me and didn’t tell me while letting me fall back into this world of Liam and Holly.
Liam’s float is in front of me, but I can’t move. My feet are frozen in place, Mary’s words still ringing in my ears. He stares at me, his smile slowly fading. Why would he do this? My hand shoots to my mouth, covering up the building sob. I sway on my feet and turn to push through the crowd when two hands grab me.
“Whoa, hey…”
My eyes shoot up at the familiar voice.
“Vincent?” I gasp. “What—what are you doing here?”
“I came to find you. You weren’t answering my calls.”
“For a damn good reason,” I bite back. I realize he’s holding me and push him away. “Let me go. We have nothing to talk about. You can leave.” I try to push past him, but he jumps back into my peripheral.
“Please. Just give me a chance. I’m begging you.”
My heart thumps wildly. I need to get out of here. I look over my shoulder at the float, where Liam stares at me intently, a fierce scowl across his face. I shake my head and turn back to Vincent. “Fine. Let’s go.” Without waiting to see if he follows, I move through the crowd until the warmth of the winter festivities is at my back. Each step I take, the coldness settles in.
“Thank you,” Vincent says, trying to keep up with me. Every few seconds, he slips on a patch of ice, and I cross my fingers that he accidentally falls and breaks his neck. Sadly, we make it back to my house in one piece. I open the door and let it slam in his face. He takes the beating and walks in behind me.
I turn on my heel to face him. “You have thirty seconds.”
He fumbles with his words. “I wanted to tell you how sorry I am.”
“Great. Now, leave—”
“Wait! I really am. What I did. . .it was wrong. I wasn’t thinking. I was working so much and tired, and Meredith saw the weakness in me.”
If my eyes bulged any farther out of my head, they’d fall out. “Weakness? What exactly was your weakness, Vincent?”
“She tempted me. She knew how much I loved you, and she tempted me.”
He’s going to die now. A Merry, Merry Murder is going to be the title of my Lifetime special. A laugh rumbles out of me, then turns into a shrieking scream as I pull at my hair, needing this insanity to go away. “Your only weakness is you’re a cheating piece of shit. You weren’t tempted. You just didn’t love me enough to be faithful to me. And that’s your loss. Because I’m pretty fucking awesome!”
My face must match the color of the red bulbs hanging from our tree. I debate taking a swing at him but breathe past it. Violence is not the answer. “You know what? I don’t care. We’re still done. Please just leave.”
Vincent takes a calculated step toward me. “Holly, please.” He puts his hands up in surrender, acknowledging my bared teeth. “I want to make things right. You can have your job back. I spoke to Benjamin. He wants you back. Not only that, but he wants to promote you to Creative Director.”
Okay, dammit, he’s got my attention there. “What do you mean, promote me? He fired me.”
“Yes, but I spoke to him and convinced him what an asset you are. I explained the whole meltdown at work was my fault. I fired Meredith. She’s gone.”
I ignore all the jibber-jabber about Meredith. That ship has completely sailed and sunk. But my job… I loved my job. I worked so hard to get where I was.
I glance at him, trying to figure out the catch. He takes a step toward me, and I back up, putting more distance between us. “What’s the catch here?”
“No catch. Well, one…forgive me?”
And there it is. I refuse to be held captive or feel inferior to a man. Not anymore. I shake my head. “No.” I move toward the door to kick his ass out, stumbling back a step, when he falls to his knee. My mouth hits the floor when his hand disappears into the pocket of his parka, and he pulls out a black box.
