I was tempted –no, beyond templed–to commit my first mun
murder. And the reason
would be
More specifically, it would be that smug toad she called a boyfriend. Natham. He was the root of everything going wrong. Every time Raina defled me, every ti she shut me out of fought harder to distance herself, tenuild see Nathan’s Influence.
It had to be him. He was the one making things harder for me. Whispering in herear, feeding her lies, poisoning her against me.
If I could get rid of him, 1 would. I wanted to.
But Nathan wasn’t a man who could be dealt with easily. The more uncovered about him, the clearer it became that he was someone to be cautious around, He wasn’t just anyone – he was part of the same high class and was, with commertions that rivaled mine. He wasn’t someone I could simply take out of the equation without repercussions
That realization unly made my blood boil more.
By the time I got home, my anger was a physical weight pressing down on me. I slammed the door behind me, yanked off my jacket, and hurled it onto the couch The motion didn’t ease the tension thrimming throuch my body; it only made it worse.
How dare he kiss her?
She was my wife.
Taina was still mine.
And yet, Nathan had kissed her with more tendemess, more passion than I’d ever allowed myself to show her, That thought alone was a dagger to the gut. No one- no one supposed to want her more than I did.
But the worst part?
She kissed him back
Why?
The question chumed inside me like acid, eating away at what little patience I had left.
I wanted to rip Kathanapart, to pummel him into nothingness. The only reason hadn’t done it right then and there was because my plan wasn’t sold yet. And it needed to be. A single misstep could ruin everything.
I dropped onto the couch, my head in my hands, trying to steady my breathing.
She kissed him back
The thought repeated itself, louder, angrier each time, until it was all trould hear.
Frustration coursed through me as 1 stormed upstairs. I stripped off my clothes and threw on something more comfortable, though it did little to ease the tension crawling under my sdn. I needed food, I needed sleep, but the thought of Raina kept me awake.
She was haunting me
I could erlerin every comer of the house–in the dining room, sipping coffee, or sitting on the couch with her legs tucked under her, a book in hand. My mind was playing cruel tricks on me, filling the silence with her laughter, her voice. It had been years, and still, she was all I could think about.
I climbed to bed and foced my eyes shut. But all I could see was Nathan’s hand on her waist, his lips on hers.
When I woke up, I felt no better. My body was heavy with exhaustion, but my mind was sharper than ever. Memories of that less still taunted me, stirring a bitter jealousy couldn’t shake
By all rights, this should’ve been the moment I walked away. She was openly cheating on me now–kissing another man while still legally my wife. Lcould’ve Turned this into grounds for divorce, used it to my advantage in court.
| Walll fevenge I wanted her.
Dragging myself out of bed, I got ready for the day. My head throbbed with every thought of Halina and Nathan, but I pushed it aside. Upstairs, I found my mother and Vanessa deep incomeration. It wasn’t hard to garas what or whe–they were talking about
Grals could change everything for us,” my mother was saying. “The wealth, the indiurmor. It’s an opportunity we can’t afford to lose.”
Topened my mouth to interrupt, but a knock at the door cut me off
sessa moved to answer it, and seconds later, she called out, “Alex, somesse’s here to ser
I wasn’t in the mood for visitors. But when i walked to the door and saw who it was, my blood ran cold.
He stood there, infuriatingly calm, holding atenvelope in his hand.
1/3
V
bu’ve got sor
some nerve showing up here,” I snarled, stepping closer.
Nathan didn’t flinch. He simply extended the envelope toward me “You might want to read this,” he said evenly.
I snatched in from his hand, my glane namowing. Nathan turned on his heel and started walking away, his confidence only fueling my anger.
1 to open the envelope, and my heart sank as my eyes scanned the contents.
A restraining order.
She actually went through with it.
couldn’t believe it. After everything, Raina had taken this step–to push me further assay, to sever any chance thad left of being near her.
My hands trembled with rage as I charged after Nathan, grabbing him by the collar. “This was your idea, wasn’t it?” I hissed, my voice low and venomous.
Nathan’s lips curled into a smirk. “And so what it it was he replied, his tone maddeningly calm. “I’m not the one who needs to keep his distance.”
1 tightened my grip, my fury boiling over. “I swear to God, I’ll kill you if you don’t stay away from her.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Nathan said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper
Before 1 could act on my impulses, my mother’s voice rang out behind me. “Alexander! What’s going on here?”
She hunted toward us, her eyes darting between me and Nathan, “Who is this?” she demanded.
Maihan straightened his collar, smoothing out his jacket. “Nathan,” he said, extending a hand she didn’t take. “Raina’s boyfriend.”
The color drained from my mother’s face. “Boyfriend? She has a boyfriend when she’s still married?”
Nathan didn’t miss a beat. “She’s just being the woman she was accused of being years ago.
My hands clenched into lists. “You son of a
But Nathan cut me off with a dismissive wave. “We’ll see
+25 crus
believes in the end,” he
, turning and walking away without so much as a backward glance.
I drove to work, gripping the steering wheel so tightly my ackles fucted white. The rage simmering inside me was like a low–buming flow, threatening to ignite at the slightest provocation. I needed a distraction, something to get my inled off the disastrous moming and the restraining order I’d just been served.
But the moment I stepped into the office, I focus would be impossible. My thoughts were tangled with images of Nathan and Raina, their connection a maddening puzzle I couldn’t solve. Every memory of them together felt like salt cubbed into an open wound.
“Good morning. Mr. Sullivan,” my assistant greeted me tentatively, weesing my mood from the storm cloud likely hanging over my head.
Lignored her policetone, thrusting a stack of papers onto her desk “These figures ameoft,” I snapped. Redo them.”
She blinked, confused “sir, those mothers were triple–checked yesterday-
“Do it again,” Let her off sharply, my voice colder than 1 intended.
She flinched but nodded, gathering the papers and retreating to her desk without another word.
I dropped into my chair, trying to bury myself in my own work, but it was me. My thoughts refused to cooperate. Every attempt to draft an email or review a pepocal ended with me staring blankly at the screen. My mind kept circling back to Raina to the way she seviled at Nathan, to the kiss they’d shared.
The stack of paperwork in front of me blumed as anger surged again. How could she move on so easily? How could she let someone like Nathan get so close?
1 slammed my pen down, the loud clatter starting even me. My assistant peeked into my office nervously, her expression wary
“verything okay, sir?” she asked hesitantly.
“No,” I muttered under my breath, running a hand through myhale
By midday, the guilt began to creep in, cutting through the haze of frustration I’d been unfair to her–barking orders, snapping at her like she was the one responsible for the chaos in my life. Witha linary sigh, Lcalled her into my office.
“Take the rest of the day off,” I said, my lone soller than it had been all morning.
Bet eyes widened in surprise. “Are you sure, sir?
Yes,” I replied timly. “do. Relax. I handle things from here.”
She nodded, quickly gathering her things and leaving without a second glance, likely relieved to escape my volatile mood
Alone in my office, I stared at the restraining onder ommy desk, my thoughts spiraling
Time was slipping away, the court hearing looming just a week ahead. Would I manage in o
vince her without getting close enough to deber further away!
in open Raina’s eyes to the truth about Nathan before then? Could i
2/3
Testerday at the auction still haunted me. Her scent–soft, floral, unforgettable–lingered in my mind. Standing near her had been torture. It had taken everything in me not to kiss her. Even now, I could still feel the ache of restraint, the frustration of watching her pull further from me and closer to that man.
Imuttered under my breath, “How am I supposed to win her over? How do I make her love me again?”
