Page 67 of The Devious Husband

A streak of pure viciousness washes over me as I glance at some of the leftover flour on the counter and swipe it off, making an even worse mess of the floor. “Indeed,” I reply. Hannah doesn’t even look up, clearly unable to face me, and she doesn’t realize that it just brings me more joy to find all her haughtiness gone. She used to be one of the most famous actresses alive, and now she can’t even lift her face to look me in the eye.

Mom doesn’t say a thing as I continue to throw things on the floor throughout dinner, and neither do Valeria nor Dad. They do, however, join me in throwing things on the floor, until eventually, I feel a little better, some of the venom disappearing from my heart.

“Come on,” Valeria says after dinner. “There’s something I want to show you.”

I raise a brow and follow her upstairs, my curiosity getting the best of me. I’ve been here so often in the last couple of weeks, but I’ve never gone upstairs. There’s never been any need for it. “We all grew up here, and even though we’ve all moved out, Mom kept our bedrooms intact in case we ever want to stay over.”

She opens one of the doors and I follow her in, only to freeze at the sight of the framed photo on the wall, in which Xavier is smiling back at me, Dion standing on his left, and Enzo on his right. “This is Xavier’s bedroom.”

She nods and grabs my hand, pulling me to the bed, completely ignoring my reluctance. Valeria climbs onto Xavier’s bed and yanks on my hand, until I’m seated next to her, her expression telling me that there’s no point resisting. I blink in confusion when she bends forward and reaches for something underneath the bed, pulling out an old battered cardboard box.

“V,” I murmur. “That looks like something that’s private.” The last thing I need is to find out about all the girls that came before me, or worse, the one that got away, the one he’d never have shut out and abandoned.

“Just look,” she says, turning it upside down, letting the contents fall all over the bed. “Please, Sierra.”

My heart skips a beat when I recognize every single thing in front of me, and my hands tremble when I reach for an old crumpled ticket to a real estate conference that I attended when I was fresh out of college. I remember seeing him there and feeling so intimidated by the thought of saying hi to him, because I didn’t think he’d even remember his best friend’s little sister, since I hadn’t seen him in nearly five years. I hovered around the stage after watching his presentation, and he grinned, greeting me by name, telling me he was looking forward to witnessing everything I’d accomplish, and that he had no doubt I’d become a worthy competitor.

I bite down on my lip when I pick up a pink pen that Valentina had once given me, remembering that I’d thrown it at him because he’d told me that my presentation for a small project he shouldn’t even have been interested in sucked. It was just a few months after the conference, and he’d told me everything that was wrong with it in his scathing tone. I hated him for it, but I did take his words to heart, and because of it, I won the next project I was vying for.

“How does he have all this?” I ask, reaching for several little pieces of torn paper with hateful things written on it that we’d passed back and forth, each time we found ourselves seated next to each other at a meeting or conference throughout the years. I laugh as I read the message, each of them from different years.

Your tie is ugly.

Not as ugly as that neon color on your slide deck.

Love those bands around your thighs. Do they keep up your stockings?

You can see them?

Every damn time you reach up to point at things in your slides, as can every other man in this room. Use a laser pointer or put on my suit jacket. Pull up the sleeves if you must and call it fashion.

If you ever, EVER, touch my cookies again, I will kill you.

I’m keeping this as evidence of premeditated murder.

I’m serious, Xavier. This isn’t funny.

Okay, I’m sorry, Kitten. ^-^

Kitten?????

Is your coffee as bitter as the look on your face when you lost that project?

Screw you.

Hopefully someday, Kitten.

?????

You suck.

Are you offering me a taste, Kitten?

What?

Never mind.

That guy is an idiot. Why he is looking at you like that?

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