Page 50 of Bitter Heat

His eyes narrowed. “He’s back in New York.”

“That has nothing to do with me.”

He tipped his head to the side. “Roth’s done well for himself.”

“Seeing his face on the magazines told me that.”

“He has his hands in everything. Real estate, hedge funds, stocks…”

“Good for him,” she said coolly.

“Stay away from him,” Lyle warned.

“That’s my plan. I’m going to Tuxedo Park tonight.”

“Smart girl.”

When she rose and turned to leave, he clucked his tongue to get her attention. When he pointed at his cheek, she made a big show of rolling her eyes as she went to him and kissed his cheek.

“I know we’re fucked up and don’t call, but you know we care, right?” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll be in touch.” She was almost out of his office when she turned back. “You’re letting her name your kid Polara?”

He shrugged. “She can do whatever she wants as long as she gives me an heir.”

“You guys have a weird marriage.”

“All marriages are weird.”

She shook her head as she left his office. Sunny and her guards were in a room off the entry hall. They rose as she approached. She donned her sunglasses as they boarded the elevator.

“I want to go to Tuxedo Park tonight,” she told Sunny.

“Do you need anything from your apartment?”

“When you can, have someone deliver it all to the estate. I won’t be going back.”

Sunny nodded and spoke into her earpiece as the doors opened into the lobby. There were more paparazzi now than when she arrived. They were too far away for her to hear their questions clearly, but she heard Roth’s name mentioned several times. That stupid picture of them was getting attention she didn’t want or need. Shit.

She ducked into the SUV at the curb, closed her eyes, and tuned everything out as it pulled away from Hennessy Tower. Her mind filled with white static, and she didn’t try to change the channel or make sense of how she was feeling right now. She wanted to cry her heart out and let it all hang out, but she couldn’t. Not until she was in her room at Tuxedo Park. She breathed deep and willed herself to sleep, but she was too wired.

In the past twenty-four hours, she’d had two monumental shifts in her life. The first being the bombshell Roth dropped about his vasectomy. And the second was this unexpected turnaround with her sisters.

Her time with Roth in Colorado was a fluke. Everything had been working against her—the snowstorm, the lack of electricity, and the fact she was emotionally fucked after her father’s passing. She wasn’t going to bemoan her choices because it was done. She had fucked the ever-living hell out of him, and he proved once and for all that they never had a real relationship. A husband who got a vasectomy was one who didn’t want a permanent tie to his wife. She had beaten him to the punch by initiating the divorce. The only reason he fought was a need to prove her father wrong. Well, fuck him. He had humiliated her for the last time. They were over. They didn’t move in the same circles, so there was no reason to have another incident like the one in Colorado.I put my number in your phone. Use it.She pulled out her phone and found him under Roth, no first name. Her thumb hovered over his name. Even if she deleted him, he could still message her so she blocked him. He could call or message all he wanted, but she would never know, and that was how she wanted it. If he wanted a hot fuck, then he could get it from any woman he chose. She wasn’t available.

New York City was quickly left behind. No traffic meant the hour-long trip to Tuxedo Park would take even less time. She knew the route well as she had been chauffeured from the village to the city countless times. Tuxedo Park was forty miles from Midtown, but the two places couldn’t be more different if they tried. Tuxedo Park was a gated community with a twenty-four-hour guard who only allowed access to residents and their guests. There were no stores, gas stations, or banks within the walls of Tuxedo Park. The village was locked in a time warp where crime was non-existent, residents left their doors unlocked, and most people rode bikes everywhere. It was a haven in the midst of a chaotic world.

Maximus had banished his personal assistant, Elena Rogan, to Tuxedo Park when she became pregnant. Jasmine didn’t remember much about her mother since she was killed in a car accident when she was three. According to Maximus, the autopsy revealed she was pregnant with another man’s child. Maximus suspected it was one of the staff and had dismissed all of them immediately. Instead of bringing Jasmine to New York, he left her at Tuxedo Park where the household staff raised her, and she attended the local private school before she was shipped off to boarding school when she was ten years old.

Both of her sisters were the byproduct of Maximus’s marriages to high-profile women. Colette’s mother was the daughter of an oil tycoon while Ariana’s mother was a supermodel. Maximus insisted on being very hands-on with Colette and Ariana. They grew up in his offices so he could teach them to take over when their time came. Born eight years after Ariana, Jasmine had been an unwanted embarrassment from day one.

She grew up with her mother’s sins on her shoulders. She tried to be the best at everything and fell short every time. Maximus had always looked at her differently. It didn’t help that she was a replica of her mother—brunette and curvy with light brown eyes. She stood out like a sore thumb next to her tall, blond sisters. She was dubbed the black sheep before she spoke her first word and had never been able to shirk the title. The one time she had come close to making her father proud was her engagement to Ford Baldwin… and that had ended in the scandal of the decade.

The fact that Maximus had acknowledged her as one of his own in his will was nothing short of astounding. No one could have predicted that, least of all her. He had made her rich beyond her wildest dreams. She didn’t have to work another day in her life if she didn’t want to. Could she really blame her sisters for reacting the way they had? Maximus had known how they would react and written letters explaining his decision. Not only had her sisters respected his decision, but they had also apologized and opened up about their feelings. They respected her profession and wanted to be a real family. She missed Maximus terribly, but something beautiful and unexpected had come from it, and she would nurture the seeds he planted.

When the SUV stopped, she came out of her stupor. One of her guards opened her door, and she took his hand as she stepped down. Her housekeeper Thea stood in the open doorway of the house. Jasmine gave her a wan smile and a tight hug.

“Are you okay? Do you want to eat?” Thea asked.

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