Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 40741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 204(@200wpm)___ 163(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
"Married?" Xylan could only stare at her. "We just broke up, and you ended up married to him?" Xylan felt as if he had never known Tassy at all after hearing this. "It isn't like you to be so fucking impulsive—-"
"I wasn't."
"But you married him—-"
"Because I love him."
And as soon as the words were out, it was as if the very last of her walls crumbled for good, and now there was no holding back the sobs rushing out of her throat, just no way to stop the pain from clawing at her soul until it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
"I l-love him, Xylan. I l-love him."
Xylan could only stare as Tassy broke down in tears in front of him. He had never seen her cry. And he had certainly never expected to see her cry like this.
"I'm sorry, Tas.
She wished she could laugh at how awkward Xylan sounded, but the tears simply wouldn't stop falling, and her pain only seemed to keep growing.
"I love him..."
Oh God, why couldn't she stop saying it?
"I really love him."
Why couldn't she just stop when every word was killing her?
"I love him...b-but I don't think he ever l-loved me...if he can hurt me like this."
Chapter Seventeen
THE EXECUTIVE OFFICES of Young Enterprises gleamed with modern minimalism—steel and glass surfaces reflecting the city lights outside. During the day, it buzzed with the hustle and bustle of a highly driven corporate workforce. But at midnight, the entire place was quiet and dark...save for the office of the man who owned all of it.
Lucius wearily leaned back against his seat, suit jacket discarded, and sleeves rolled to the elbow. Everything inside of him felt dead. It had been so since he had gotten rid of her.
A sound alerted him to someone coming inside to his office, but Lucius couldn't even find the fucking energy to open his eyes.
Marius' lips tightened as he studied his eldest brother, who was a picture of exhaustion and despair. It was like looking at a fucking stranger.
"What is it, Marius?"
Marius' lips twitched. When they had been younger, none of them could slip anything past their eldest brother. It was nice to know this part of Lucius was still the same.
"I've got some investment recommendations."
"At midnight?" Lucius finally straightened in his seat and looked at his brother. "How about telling me why you're really here?"
"I'm not lying." Marius placed a memory stick on his brother's desk before sliding into the leather seat across from Lucius. "I bought Black Carpet."
"Congratulations," Lucius said, his voice devoid of inflection. "Are you here to ask how much I'd like to invest in it?"
"In the company I just acquired? A hundred mil. In your marriage? That depends on whether you can ever get your head out of your ass."
Lucius' gaze glinted. "Don't."
But the warning only made an identical pair of copper eyes glint back at him just as fiercely.
"You fucked up, Lucius." He pushed the memory stick forward. "Let's just hope it's not too fucking late."
Lucius watched his brother walk away with the same abruptness with which he had appeared. It was unlike this brother of his to interfere in anyone's personal relationships, and tension turned his body rigid as he reached for the memory stick.
The storage drive contained several video files. He clicked on the first, and his stomach clenched as Tassina's face filled his screen.
She was in a conference room, presumably in her workplace, and surrounded by colleagues. She was awarded a promotion...at the same time that asshole chose to break up with her.
The second video showed her talking to her department VP, and his chest tightened at the way her eyes softened when she shyly admitted that their marriage was a love match.
The third video, however...
Lucius shot to his feet at the sight of her ex nearly succeeding in forcing himself on his wife in what appeared to be a medical room, stopping only when Stella arrived.
Rage flooded his veins, but this just as swiftly turned into agony when the last video showed Tassina crying in the hallway, and he heard her sobbing out, "I love him."
His blood turned cold.
"I love him, I really love him..."
Lucius could feel himself whitening at every word she choked out, every sob that tumbled past her trembling lips.
"I love him...b-but I don't think he ever l-loved me...if he can hurt me like this."
His fists clenched, memories that he had tried to repress suddenly devouring his mind.
God, oh God.
He remembered teasing his Tassina for the first time in the airport lounge, and how easy it was to make her question whether he was flirting with her or not.
He remembered playing with Tassina in Foxtown, and how she had ended up second-guessing herself because of someone simply professing their innocence...
He remembered Tassina in his parents' ranch, and how easy it had been to surprise her.