Page 147 of My Ruthless Husband

Matt tightens his arm around me. “Then you have to get it out.”

“What?” I ask weakly.

“I can tell something’s eating at you. You shouldn’t keep it buried inside for long. It’s not healthy. You can talk to me.” When I remain silent, he says, “Please, River.”

I pull away slightly, looking up at him with a forced smile. “I wish it were that simple.”

Brushing a strand of hair away from my face, he says, “You smile even when you’re hurting, did you know that? Everyone else might be fooled, but I can see the truth in your eyes.”

I pull away completely and sit straighter. “What do you mean?”

“Your eyes. When you pretend and hide your pain with those smiles, your eyes lose their brightness, turning into a shadowy green. And though it takes my breath away every time with how beautiful they are, it pains me to see you hide like this.”

I gasp. “You’re so direct.”

He shrugs, a rueful smile touching his lips. “It wasn’t easy becoming the person I am today.”

When I keep gazing at him questioningly, he looks away. “Pretending only makes the pain worse.”

Matt’s always been the type to fill silence with easy conversation, the kind of guy who makes everyone around him feel at ease. But there’s something raw in his voice when he said that, something he doesn’t show often.

“You say it as if you’re speaking from experience.”

Silence stretches between us for a beat. I half expect him to change the subject, to try to cheer me up with his usual laid-back charm, but when he speaks again, his tone is different—more serious. “Yeah, you can say that.”

He exhales, leaning his head back against the wall, his eyes distant for a moment, like he’s lost in some old memory. “I was seven when I was sent off to boarding school in London.”

“Why?” I can’t help but ask.

“I was just a kid in the wrong place at the wrong time. My mom raised me on her own, and when her employer offered to send me to boarding school, covering everything, she jumped at the chance. She thought it would give me a better life.”

“Did it?”

He just gives me a rueful smile. “For my first whole year there, I didn’t talk. To anyone. Refused to even take my mother’s calls.”

I don’t know what to say. The thought of young Matt, alone in a strange place, dealing with something that had ripped his world apart. “Was it because you didn’t want to go?”

He shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t that. I was actually relieved to leave the States behind. It felt like an escape.”

“But this isn’t about me,” he says suddenly. “I brought it up to encourage you to share, too. Keeping everything inside will only tear you apart. What saved me was learning to let go, talking to others, and finding support. It helped me move on.”

I try to make up an excuse but he puts a finger against my lips. “I get it, you know? Pretending everything’s fine because it’s easier than dealing with the truth. But it’s not… it doesn’t make it hurt any less.” His voice softens. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

I close my eyes, the weight of his words sinking into me. “My husband’s back,” I finally whisper, my voice barely audible.

Matt doesn’t react at first, but I feel him shift slightly beside me. “Is that why you’re hiding in here?”

“It’s complicated.”

He doesn’t say anything but I can feel his quiet encouragement in the silence.

I take a shaky breath, my fingers trembling as I clasp them together in my lap.

I share the truth about my marriage, keeping the details vague. I tell him Damian and I aren’t close; how he’s always away on business trips, rarely making time for me. I mention mydad’s rivalry with him, how it ruined everything. How I defied my dad’s wishes by marrying Damian and lost all contact with him.

I finally explain about my connection with Melissa. How seeing her at the club shocked me. As her father was dad’s business partner then my father’s empire is probably falling apart too.

“And now I don’t even know if he’s okay, if he’s healthy, or if everything he built is crumbling. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

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