I felt like someone was dragging a knife through my chest.
“I ask myself if I’m heartless,” he continued, “but I can’t ignore selfless love like that. Danica can have my love openly, you only get to hide in this villa. I give you a title. That’s fair.”
Fair? Fair? Wow.
I staggered back, heart pounding, eyes burning. Years ago, a noble brat mocked me, called me a broken-winged angel, and Felix made him eat his own tongue, cold as ice. And now he’s here, kissing the woman who shattered me, giving her gifts, giving her his life, giving her… a title.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to vanish.
“What if she finds out?” Shannon asked, voice worried, “Miss McKellar won’t accept it.”
Felix smiled, calm, his power radiating from every pore. “My love for Danica has never changed. I’ll protect her for life. She’ll never know. And she’ll never be hurt by you again.”
He knelt and placed a pink diamond on Shannon’s hand.
Shannon gasped, eyes wide. “This is the final item from Paris’ auction a few days ago. Worth a hundred million. Am I… worthy?”
“You’re my woman, baby.” He kissed her gently, and my blood froze. “Of course you’re worthy. Happy fourth anniversary, my wife.”
And I stood there, broken, watching the man I loved, the man who’d sworn I was his world, give himself to someone else.
...
I didn’t leave the mountain until his black car disappeared down the road. I just stood there for a long time, like my body forgot how to move, like if I moved everything would become real.
My phone started vibrating in my hand. I looked down at it, numb, and tapped the screen.
[Danica, I’m on my way home. I can’t wait to celebrate our seventh anniversary with my darling. Love you.]
For a second, I didn’t react. Then I laughed. God… I laughed so hard I had to bend over, my shoulders shaking, tears streaming down my face like I’d gone insane. Seventh anniversary? He had just finished celebrating four years with another woman, and now he was coming home to celebrate seven years with me? What was I to him? A joke? A pet? Or just… someone too stupid to notice?
There was no seventh anniversary. We had been divorced for four years. Four whole years. And love? If Felix’s version of love was cutting off my future, locking me in a golden cage, and lying straight to my face… then I didn’t want it anymore. Not even a little.