AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I didn’t ask about the loan again, because truthfully, I didn’t want it. I’d just needed something to say in that heated moment. I would go to the bank and do it the traditional way, the way everyone who didn’t have rich fathers and husbands did.
He remained quiet, lost in his own thoughts and his sea of disappointment.
I noticed he didn’t ask how I was doing. If I needed anything. If there was anything he could do to ease my pain. He seemed to be thinking about himself, the fact that my separation from Axel had complicated his ownership.
That stung a bit. “I should go.” I rose to my feet and grabbed my purse.
After a second, he did the same and came to my side. “How much do you need?”
“I—I don’t know. Maybe a hundred thousand.”
He walked with me toward the door, his hands in his pockets. “I’ll think about it and let you know.”
I didn’t want the loan, but it hurt that he didn’t give it to me without hesitation. Axel was happy to give me everything of his, to push his wealth into my hands for me to keep. He was happy to make my dreams a reality. Both men were equally wealthy, so it was clear who was generous…and who was stingy. “Alright. Goodnight.”
He opened the front door for me. “Sweetheart?”
“Hmm?” I turned back to look at him.
“Don’t be sad for long,” he said. “You were too good for him anyway.”
Chapter 6
Axel
Aldo knocked on my bedroom door.
I was on the couch in the living room, watching a game I didn’t really care about. Sports was the only distraction I had at the moment. All of her stuff was gone, but her smell remained. Hints of her perfume in the bathroom. A pair of her panties in my underwear drawer that had been placed there by mistake. One of her hairs on my pillow. Everywhere I looked, she was there, fucking haunting me.
Aldo knocked again, like he knew I was there and ignoring him. “Sir, Theo is here to see you.”
Why? “Tell him I’m not home.”
“I’ve already informed him you’re in residence.”
My eyebrow cocked at his boldness as I walked to the door, tired of talking through a wall. “Why would you do such a thing?”
He stepped back from the door and placed his hands behind his back. “He’s waiting for you in the parlor.”
“You already invited him into the house?” I asked incredulously.
Aldo walked off, like this was acceptable behavior for a butler.
I growled before I slammed the door behind me. I was in nothing but my boxers, so I pulled on a pair of sweats and a shirt before I took the long trek down the stairs and into the parlor on the lower level.
Theo was already there, but the decanter of scotch was untouched, and so were the cigars.
Something was up.
When I walked into the room, his eyes immediately locked on my appearance, like he was looking for bullet wounds or scars.
It took only a few seconds to piece together what had happened. Aldo had betrayed me. That man was supposed to be my secret keeper. If I killed someone in the house and he was questioned by authorities, he was supposed to keep his mouth shut. “That little traitor…” I sat in the armchair across from Theo, the window behind me.
Theo massaged his knuckles as he stared at me, as if he’d recently got into a fistfight in a bar. “He hadn’t seen you in three days…started to get worried.”
I looked at the fire, not in the mood to talk to anyone, not even him. The last three days had been spent on the couch. Hardly ate anything. Skipped the gym every single day, which was a new streak for me. I simply had no motivation to do anything. Every time I looked at my phone, I hoped to see a message from her…but there was nothing.
“You want to talk about it?”
