Page 5 of Cruel Hearts

I sip my coffee. “I want to tell him I did it because I loved him. Ashton Black turned me into a prisoner, kept me as a slave, and cut me off from the world, but in those five years, he rarely laid a hand on me.”

Besides the stomach-churning kiss he gave me the night he showed me the room that would turn into my whole world, he never touched me like that. In some strange respect for Zane, maybe. He could have easily sold me as he had Zarah, but he didn’t. I wonder what happened to her. Married a rich guy who loves her. Living a fantasy life while I was locked up. She never tried to get me out. Ash would have taunted me with it if she had.

I push away the bitterness. Everything I did, I did for Zane. I have no regrets.

“He hit you.” Quinn reads me like she always has.

“Every once in a while. To keep me in line. It only took a couple of times to learn what made him angry. You know about that, Quinn.”

She lets out a huge sigh. “Yeah. That’s something, then. I’ll go with you, and we’ll drop it off at his building. I doubt you’ll get past his security. You may just have to leave it with a guard in the lobby.”

I hate the thought of doing anything with the flash drive but giving it directly to Zane and explaining what’s on it, but she’s right. I can’t wait for him to go home after work—he never has to leave the building. I could camp out on the steps for days, waiting to see him face to face, and that’s if security doesn’t pegme as a homeless woman needing a place to nap and kick me off the property or call the cops. “That will have to be good enough.”

“Then will you go to New York with me? Let me take care of you?” Quinn asks, brushing a piece of my dirty hair off my cheek.

How she still loves me after all this time should be a mystery, but it’s not. I’ll love Zane forever. It will never matter how much time goes by. I shouldn’t make promises to Quinn I won’t be able to keep, but I let myself step into her arms, let her press her lips to my temple. “We’ll get it to Zane, and then I’ll go with you.”

I don’t want to drag her into this mess, but I need help. Then we can disappear. She has connections and can have a new driver’s license and birth certificate made for me.

I’ve never felt like Stella Mayfair.

I don’t know who that person is.

Now I can leave her behind.

CHAPTER TWO

Zane

Iknow the minute the bitch steps foot in my city. She thinks I haven’t been watching for her? Waiting for her?

I’ve waited five years for this day. Five years for her to surface so I can beat the shit out of her.

No. I want to do worse than that. I want to fuckingkill her.

I lean back in my chair and gaze over the city sparkling in front of me. After Stella left, I couldn’t pass her desk every day, and I moved where I should have claimed my territory in the first place—my father’s office.

He had pictures everywhere, and the first thing I did was throw them out. Everyone I loved was gone. The only person who stood by my side was Ash.

Thank Christ I didn’t listen to Stella’s lies about the Blacks. Then, after she ran off with her prince and my sister had her breakdown, I would have had no one.

Fucking bitch.

I summon my executive assistant. She’s lumpy in a way Spanx can’t fix and her complexion is splotchy even under aninch of makeup. She types a hundred and twenty words a minute and knows shorthand, the real kind that has the little squiggles and loops. I would rather have a thousand Peggys who can do their fucking job than another pretty little girl who has nothing in her head.

It’s a lot easier to keep my dick in my pants, I’ll tell you that.

Peggy peeks her chubby cheeks into my office. “Did you need something, Mr. Maddox?”

“Call Hal. I want to see him. Now.”

“Yes, sir.”

I could have done it myself, but my hands are shaking with rage. Some might say my reaction to an ex being back in the city is a little...strong.

You know what I have to say to that?

Fuck.

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