Page 95 of Breakaway

“I don’t care!” I yell, shutting him up. “What you did is horrible! Didn’t you see what kind of life he had? His twin died and?—”

“People die every day, Nevaeh. I don’t see you crying about any of them.”

I ball my fists, glaring at him. I’m not a violent person, but I swear I want to strangle him. “Ibroke your heart.Ileft you. It had nothing to do with Roman. Why are you targeting him?”

“It had everything to do with him,” Travis seethes. “I read your article, Nevaeh. You wrote about your feelings for him. About how you were crushing on him even when you were withme.” He slams his hand on the table. “I loved you. I wanted to marry you, and you left me the moment you found the ring.”

“Because I didn’t love you, and I thought it was more honest to leave you then instead of continuing to lead you on.”

Travis jerks back in his seat; his upper lip curls into a sneer. “What do you even see in him?”

“Everything you don’t,” I state, my cheeks heating up. “Roman is loyal, caring, and kind, and you ripped him apart with that article. You have no idea what it means to live with the guilt he’s carrying. How hard it is for him to open up. And you made him believe that I betrayed him.”

“Did he leave you?”

“He did.”

Travis smirks. “Good. Now you know how it feels to have your heart broken. I hope you like it.”

His last words hang in the air, and the atmosphere in the room becomes heavier. On my way to his office, I googled what I can do to punish him, and apparently, there’s not much. I can’t press charges. He didn’t hack my email or steal my identity. I gave him access to my email, albeit unknowingly, so it’s my fault he even had the opportunity to do this. I could try to sue him for emotional distress, but that would mean putting myself and Roman in the spotlight. And I don’t think I want that.

I stand up, keeping my eyes trained on Travis. “I felt terrible about how I broke up with you. You were nothing but good to me, but I had to break your heart because I didn’t feel the same way about you. After Roman and I got accidentally married, the only thing I worried about was you. I didn’t want you to find out, because I knew it would only make things worse. I didn’t want to hurt you more than I already had,” I say quietly and round the table, stopping next to him. “You were a good guy, Travis. A good guy with his heart in the right place…but not anymore. To be so cruel? So vindictive toward someone who didn’t do anything to you? Who you knew suffered from unimaginable pain? Good people don’t do things like that.”

Travis looks up, meeting my gaze and licking his bottom lip. “I didn’t think about what it would be like for him. What it would be like to have everyone know about his past. I just wanted to hurt you for hurting me,” he says with conviction, and I don’tsee a single sign of regret on his face. His eyebrows are pierced together, the corners of his mouth dropped.

“Well, now you have to live with what you’ve done, Travis.”

I turn around and pad out of the conference room, down the hallway and straight to the elevators. Wasting even one more minute of my time on my ex-boyfriend seems pointless. I have way more important things to do.

Me:

I know you’re angry with me, and that I’m the last person on the planet you want to see, but I really need to talk to you. That wasn’t my article you read. I would never betray you like that. I swear, Roman.

I hit send, and then I type another one.

Me:

I know what happened, and I can explain everything. Please, come home, Roman. Come back to me.

Chapter 37

Because I Love Her?

ROMAN

I parkmy Kawasaki in the driveway of a two-story house, then I hop off it and look around. Clay lives in a very nice neighborhood, not very far from Ava and Colton’s house. His house is white with a red tiled roof, large windows, and a spacious lawn—looks like something I would want for myself if I decided to settle down and start a family.

That was an incredibly dumb thought, Roman.

“What do you think?” Clay asks, climbing out of his Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon. “You like my little house?”

“I wouldn’t call it little,” I counter and strut to the backseat of his car, opening the door and taking out my gym bag. “Thank you again for letting me crash. Really appreciate it.”

“It’s fine. What are friends for if you can’t ask them to stay at their house for a few days?” Clay smiles, takes his own bag from the backseat, and locks the car once the door is closed. “Besides, I figured you couldn’t ask Thompson or Benson, because they’d both have a ton of questions. Drake even more than Colt since Nevaeh is his fiancée’s best friend.”

I roll my eyes but don’t say anything, following him into the house. The ride on my motorcycle helped me to calm down a little, emptying my mind of the thoughts that have beentroubling me since the moment I read the article. The only question I still have is why. Why would she do something like that to me?

And why the hell did she look so surprised when I asked her about it?

---