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“—than I’ve ever gotten directly from you in the last four years I’ve known you,” he finished, speaking over me.
“Only three of those years count,” I said, settling onto the edge of the leather wingback chair.
Daniel gaped at me from where he stood behind the sofa. “Are you purposely missing the point?” he asked.
“You did a search into my past the moment you gleaned the slightest bit of information about me. You chose to investigate me rather than wait for me to open up.”
“That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think? I was able to pull up the official story about what happened to your mother, but I don’t have the emotional backstory. I don’t have thetruth.I don’t know what her death did to you, what it still does to you. I don’t know why you changed your last name from Kincaid, or why you didn’t attend her funeral. Christ, Jasper, the five-year anniversary of her passing was a week before we got married, and you didn’t say a thing. And I had to pretend not to know, even though you were hurting, because you hadn’t told me. Because I wasn’t supposed to know.”
Daniel had rushed me down the aisle like a fire was on our tails the moment I’d agreed to his proposal. He’d gotten pieces of my secrets and a promise he could have me for life. Yet it wasn’t enough for him. It never was. To be fair, itwasn’tenough. Not by a long shot, and he had a right to ask for more. But I’d given him all I could give, because the rest of me belonged to someone else. And I couldn’t make the belonging stop no matter how hard I tried.
I set my glass on the coffee table, refilling it with a shaking hand, scotch splashing in a barrage of teardrops onto the wood. My mother had taken Franklin’s last name immediately after marrying him. She’d allowed me to make the same choice for myself, which I’d eventually done. “I changed my name because I wanted my privacy. I didn’t want to be shackled to the Kincaid legacy.” That was only partially true, but it was all I could offer him.
“So you took your mother’s maiden name,” he said, revealing another tidbit of secrets he’d unearthed. I was naïve to think he wouldn’t follow the breadcrumbs I’d felt forced to give him.
“What else do you know?”
“That’s it. What else are you willing to tell me?”
I stared at him in silence.
“Right,” he said tightly, charging for the stairs.
“You still haven’t explained how you ended up working for him!”
He stilled with one hand on the banister, his shoulders going rigid, then relaxing. “Cole had done his own due diligence before calling me,” he said calmly as he sauntered back over. “He knew who I was, and more importantly, who I worked for. Nexcom Global is in need of new legal representation. I saw my opportunity and made my sales pitch.”
“And it never occurred to you to question why he would so readily get into bed with Parker & Mitchell?”
“How about giving both of us a little more credit, hmm?” he said, unable to mask his offense, coming around the sofa to sit across from me, our individual anger now at eye level. “Your brother and I didn’t get to where we are in life by making rash decisions. Parker & Mitchell’s sign-on is contingent on me successfully facilitating a deal. One I intend to deliver to your brother on a silver platter—”
“Stop calling him my brother!” I shot to my feet, whirling and pitching the glass tumbler with its contents into the fireplace. I screwed my eyes shut, willing my pulse to stabilize to something more manageable, or to still completely. I just needed the pain to go away.
“Jesus, Jasper. I’ve never seen you like this,” Daniel whispered from behind me. We were mild men, Daniel and I. He made decisions he believed were right for us—right forme,and I relented on all with the exception of my job. Mostly I let him have his way, and I forgave him all too easily for everything. I never cared enough to fight. I’d left my passion burning next to my fractured heart when I’d run from my old life six years ago.
“I’ve done nothing but support you.Spoilyou, even. I work tirelessly to make you realize your potential—”
“I’ve never asked you for any of that,” I bit out tightly. “In fact, I’ve blatantly asked you to do nothing but love me.”
“I thought that’s what I was doing.”
My defenses were weakening for his victim portrayal, as always. Any therapist worth their weight would’ve called it gaslighting. And maybe it was. If so, it was unintentional. One dinner with Daniel’s family would’ve convinced anyone of that. Inside, he was a wounded kid. We both were. “Daniel…” I swung around to meet his expectant stare, but had nothing more to offer him. He would win this. I would let him get away with it. What was the alternative? Leave him? He’d fucked up, but he was my husband. And currently, he was the only thing standing in the way of history repeating itself, no matter how fragile of a barricade our marriage could potentially end up being in the long run.
“Instead of being upset, and accusing me of betrayal when all I’ve done is love you, how about you try being happy for me for a change,” he seethed. I didn’t stop him when he left this time. He ascended one stair before blasting me with his parting shot. “Oh, and you may want to consider the fact that I didn’t have to sell him too hard on taking a chance on the firm. Cole practically reached through the phone and put the contract and pen in my hand.”
I gritted my teeth and tugged my hair at the roots, blond strands curling around my fingers.
Cole.He’d wanted this as much as Daniel did. He’d wanted it even more.
It’d taken some digging around, but by morning I had Cole’s address. I should’ve expected he’d preemptively—and presumptuously—add me onto the approved guest list. I nodded my thanks to the concierge clerk, and then made my way to the elevator bank designated to the hotel’s penthouse.
The doors swooshed open to a foyer made up of gray-veined white marble that poured through the expanse of the residence. The exterior glass walls throughout provided unobstructed, panoramic views of the cityscape, the Hudson River, and beyond.
Cole rounded a corner from the other end of the vast suite, padding toward me shirtless and barefoot, his hair dripping wet from a shower. I trained my eyes on the mischievous glint in his, and not on the inky trail of hair traveling from his navel into the silk pajama bottoms he wore, which did nothing to camouflage the imprint of his bobbing cock.
“Jasper,” he started with a smile.
“Did you push for the deal with Parker & Mitchell or did Daniel?” I asked with zero patience for chitchat. I’d gotten minimal sleep last night, and the detour here would cause me to be late for work, but the confrontation couldn’t wait for later.
