Page 60 of The Deal

I’m jolted from my thoughts when I hear a key turn in the lock. My heart skips, and without thinking, I jump offthe bed and race toward the bathroom. It has a lock as well—a keyless one.

“Chloe,” Alexander calls out, but I manage to close the bathroom door and flick the lock before he can get to me.

My heart is pounding furiously against my ribcage as I start pacing back and forth.

Naturally, I can’t stay in here forever, but for now, I have water and access to a toilet. I could hold up in this bathroom for days if I need to—at least, until I figure out my next move.

I freeze when the handle jiggles. “Chloe, please,” Alexander says from the other side of the door. “Let me in, I can explain.”

Explain what exactly?That he’s a lying, cheating arsehole?

“I’m not interested in anything you have to say,” I yell back.

“There’s so much you don’t know.”

I storm towards the door and bang my clenched fist against it. “I know all I need to know, you piece of shit.”

“Please … hear me out.”

“I was stupid enough to believe your lies once … I won’t fall for them again. And tell your wife from me, if she dares to call me aputtunaagain, I’ll knock those porcelain veneers of hers right down her stupid throat.”

I rear back when I hear him chuckle. “Now that I would pay to see.”

“You’re a pig. What a terrible thing to say about your wife.”

“She’s not my fucking wife,” he bellows.

“You know what?” I say, stepping away from the door and cranking the basin taps on full pelt. “I’ve heard enough.” I head to the shower next, doing the same, thinking maybe the noise will drown him out.

The bath taps come on after that, but even when the sound of water is roaring in the background, I can still hear him. So, I walk over and flush the toilet, just for good measure.

“Leave me alone!” I scream, my voice cracking with rage. “Let me stay in here to rot … to die, because, honestly, that would be a far better fate than the alternative.”

Am I being overdramatic? Yeah. But I’d rather hold onto my anger than let the pain tearing me up inside spill out.

I collapse onto the edge of the bathtub, burying my face in my hands, hoping he’ll take the hint and leave me the hell alone. But just a few seconds later, I’m jolted back in shock as I hear the sickening crack of wood splintering as his foot smashes through the door, tearing it straight off its hinges.

Chapter 22

Alexander

It has been a very long time—many years—since I’ve felt even close to being this angry. Is that anger directed at Chloe? No, it’s not, but I’m furious with Sophia. Absolutely livid. That woman is the bane of my existence.

The grief she has caused me since I met her is, frankly, unfathomable. She’s trouble with a capitalT, and if I could completely cut her out of my life, I would. But doing that would mean losing Giovanni, and that’s a sacrifice I’m not willing to make.

When the truth about his lineage finally came out, my father wanted to wipe Sophia off the face of this earth, and he wouldn’t have hesitated to do that if I hadn’t begged and pleaded for her life.

She deserved everything that was coming her way, but I knew what a life without a mother was like, and I didn’t want the same fate for Giovanni. He’s the innocent one in all of this. He never asked to be born.

I lunge forward and grab hold of Chloe’s arm before she tumbles backwards into the bathtub.

Once she’s stabilised, I squat down in front of her. “Sophia is not my wife,” I tell her, taking a moment toprepare myself to finish my sentence. “And Giovanni is not my son.”

Fuck, even all these years later, that knowledge still stings. “He’s not?” she asks over a gasp.

“No.” I bow my head and continue. “She and I had a one-night stand many years ago.” If you could even call it that.

She actually cornered me in the men’s bathroom at a function I was at, propositioning me. So I did what any red-blooded male would do … I led her into one of the stalls, bent her over the toilet, and hiked up her dress. But Chloe does not need to hear all the gory details.

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