Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130414 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
He leaned against the bed base. “But revenge is a dish served cold. And I’d already enacted plans to ruin the thing he loved most—his business. That would be my moment of reckoning. This, and killing the Costa dynasty with my last breath. After all, Senior always planned on having more children to ensure a line of succession. Didn’t work out so great.”
A bitter smile found its way to Romeo’s lips. “So, I’ve played the long game. Garnered control and clout to use against him. I agreed Morgan was a mistake. Sat down with him for a drink. And vowed to give him what he wanted in due time—a filthy rich bride of high ranking.”
Siring an heir for Romeo meant giving in to his father’s wishes.
I hugged the glass so tight, its edge left a mark on my skin. “You had a drink with your father immediately after you discovered him sleeping with your fiancée?”
“Indeed, I did.”
“This is sick.”
Romeo shrugged. “Love doesn’t exist. Marriage is a means to an end. My only regret is dragging someone else down this grim path of mine. Before I met you, it was easy to write you off as an upper-class version of Morgan. A ditzy woman who didn’t mind whom she married, so long as her quality of life remained unsullied. I didn’t think you’d care if I stole you from Madison. In that aspect, I’m no better than your father.”
I regarded him with fresh misery.
He turned away, not wanting to see what was smeared on my face.
“Why do you hate Madison so much? What was his role in this?”
Romeo worked his jaw again. I noticed he wasn’t chewing gum and realized he felt uncomfortable without it.
“After she realized my father had tricked her, Morgan tried crawling back into my good graces. Didn’t happen, obviously. She’d leave me hourly voice messages. Long ones. Begging me to take her back. She knew my tidiness didn’t allow me to overlook the red alert on my phone. In one of her ramblings, she mentioned something about how she ‘didn’t even tell Madison anything that could come back to hurt me.’ The moron essentially outed herself. I found out Madison paid her the last six months of our relationship to collect intel against Costa Industries through me. And that was why I finally exiled her somewhere she couldn’t hurt me.”
That sounded like the Madison I’d grown to know and dislike in Potomac. It also sounded like my ex-fiancé was the first to initiate this war between them. The hatred burned with a never-ending flame.
“What did he find out?” I swallowed hard, dreading the answer.
Romeo’s eyes met mine, dead and cold. “Not much he could work with but plenty to embarrass me. Morgan never cared about my business. Never wanted to know much about it. So, in order to cut a nice check for herself, she resorted to telling him my secrets. My fears. My … complex childhood.” His nostrils flared. A faraway look curtained his face. “She did something far uglier than giving him trade secrets. She told him my weaknesses and how to use them.”
“Where is she now?” Part of me didn’t want to know. I was liable to make the trip and strangle her myself.
“Norway.” His lazy tenor told me not to ask any more questions regarding the why and the how. “Working a retail job and keeping her nose out of my business. She is not doing brilliantly. Still single. She spent the money Madison gave her within weeks of our breakup, so no sound investments were made, either.”
“Do you think you’ll ever see her again?”
He shook his head. “She is dead to me, and she knows it.”
“Then, there’s no reason for her to remain there. You need to let her come back to America.”
“No.”
“Yes. You can hate someone for all the right reasons and still wrong them. Revenge is the act of stooping as low as the person who hurt you.”
He stared at me miserably. “Loathing you was so much easier when I thought you were silly.”
Silence blanketed the room. Surprisingly, I didn’t have many questions to ask. Only one, really. Everything else was crystal clear. His motivations. His desires.
“This all happened years ago,” I pointed out. “Why did you take me as a wife just now?”
“A few reasons.” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear absentmindedly. “First, I’m now the CFO of Costa Industries, within reach of CEO. Senior is seriously ill and will step down any day now. And you and Madison only recently made the engagement official to the general public. I was unaware of your existence until the week we met. Plus, for the longest time, I couldn’t tolerate the idea of having a woman by my side, even as decoration. Time dulled the anger, but it did not cloud the memory.”