Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 667(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“Right now. We’re going to order pizza, you need food because that bottle is half empty and you don’t drink. As in, you get drunk at half a glass.”
Her phone rings in her hand and she glances down at it. She answers the line. “Yes. She’s—”
“Are you talking to him?” I demand.
She stands up and holds up her hand. “Mia.”
“You are. I can’t believe you took his call. Hang up.”
“Hold on,” she says into her phone and punches a button. “She’s on speaker.”
“Mia, I didn’t do this,” Grayson says. “I swear on my mother, my father, and to God.”
“Stop talking, Grayson, because you see, I’m stupid. I listen to you. I want to believe you. Or I did. I trusted you. I would have died for you. No more. No more!”
“Baby, I’ll do anything—”
“To get your baby-making machine back? So you can look perfect and have your heir? No. I’m not her. I’m taking off the ring and Courtney will bring it to you. Maybe you can put it on her. She can be—”
“Stop, Mia,” Courtney says. “Stop.”
“He fired me off my case and put her on it, Courtney!” I shout. “Did he tell you that?”
She pales. “What?”
“Yes. Fired me and then fucked her. Or fucked me and fucked her. I don’t know. Hang up.”
“Mia!” Grayson calls out. “Listen to me. I—”
My stomach rolls and I rush to the bathroom and end up on my knees at the toilet. I heave and I am so sick I want to die. When I finally fall back on the tile, Courtney kneels beside me. “Honey, I hung up. I didn’t know about the case. That’s—”
“Damning?”
“Yeah. It kind of is.”
I curl up in a ball and let the ring in my hand settle on the tile. “Take it to him and try to get my things. I need to be alone.”
“I’ll deal with all of that tomorrow. I’m staying with you tonight, but let’s go to my place.”
“He’ll find me there.”
“Well, we have a friend who’s a realtor. I’ll see if she can get you into a place tomorrow, but you need to be somewhere where you can deal with paperwork. Let’s go back to the city.”
I sit up and pull my knees to my chest. “Right. Because I need a home and a new job.”
Because I don’t live or work with Grayson anymore.
Chapter seventeen
Mia
The present
I’m still standing on the patio of Grayson’s Hamptons home, in nothing but a silk robe I bought when he was mine and I was his. I’m staring at him and he’s staring at me, and there are steps and space between us that reach beyond the physical. The night we broke up is right here with us, a wedge that won’t collapse. Images of Becky pressed against him pound at my mind, driven home by that damn text message I’d read the night of his father’s funeral. It zaps that blame I’d put on myself. It says that I’m not the one who betrayed us. It says he did. It’s the message that could catch him in a lie. I don’t want him to lie, but I need to know if he will. Emotions rush at me hard and fast. I need the truth once and for all, but I can’t do this in this robe. I can’t be that vulnerable.
I rotate and exit the patio, hurrying through the living room and I don’t stop until I’m in the bedroom. I hunt down my clothes and sneakers, scoop them up and retreat to the closet. I’ve just managed to fully dress when Grayson appears in the doorway, and he too now wears a T-shirt with his sweats and sneakers. “Leaving again, Mia?”
“Not yet, but you’re right. If I leave this time, it will be for good. Tell me,” I order, my voice cracking. “When did you start fucking her?”
He curses and runs his hand through his hair, his dark waves left in disarray as his hands settle on his waist. “Really, Mia? That’s where we’re still at right now?”
“Tell me,” I order again. “Just say it all. Say it all.”
He is in front of me in a snap, pulling me to him, his body absorbing mine and not gently. “There is no when, Mia. I was not, and have not been with Becky. She came into my office. She shut the door. I told her to leave. The phone rang. I thought it was you. I was hoping it was you since you’d shut me out over pulling you off the case. I turned my back and took the call. It was Eric with a problem. When I turned around, she’d stripped and rounded my desk. She flung herself at me and then you opened the door. I don’t know how the hell it was planned that well, but it was planned.”