Page 67 of Enemies, Lovers & A Valentine's Baby

“I grew up in an orphanage,” he says finally, his gaze fixed somewhere above my head, unseeing. “I don’t have any family. Never did. As you can imagine, it wasn’t exactly the ideal setup for a kid.”

My heart picks up speed. Somehow, I know whatever he’s about to say will change the way I see him forever.

“I don’t like blaming my actions on my past,” he continues, his voice low and controlled, as if he’s holding back a tide of emotion. “I’m an adult. I take responsibility for my actions, but sometimes…sometimes I can’t help but wonder if it all goes back to that time. The childhood I lived. It created this…hole, a void that nothing ever seems to fill.”

“Growing up, I wanted what every kid wants—love, safety, a family. The basics. But I didn’t get any of it. And when you grow up with nothing, you learn to chase everything. You chase anything that might make you feel whole.”

I clench my fists, fighting the urge to reach for him. His words are jagged, like they’re cutting him from the inside out as he speaks.

He pauses, his hands curling into fists in his lap. “When I was younger, it was girls, parties, anything that made the emptiness go away, even for a moment. Then I outgrew that phase andpoured myself into work. I built my company from scratch. Turned nothing into a billion-dollar empire. People look at me now and think I’ve got it all.” He lets out a bitter laugh. “But it’s never enough. It never fills that hole. I don’t know if it ever will.”

His voice grows quieter, like the words are dragging something out of him he didn’t want to share. “That’s the thing about me, Lila. No matter how much I have, I’ll always be that scrawny kid in the orphanage, staring at the world through a window and knowing it’ll never be mine. I’ve spent my whole life trying to prove that wrong, and yet…” he trails off, shaking his head.

My heart aches in a way I didn’t think was possible. I’ve always had my family—my parents and my sister, Jo. They’re my foundation, my constant in a sometimes cruel world. Then there’s Cole, who’s spent his entire life without that. Alone.

He pauses, looking down at his hands. “But it wasn’t always like this,” he says softly. “Once, I was a different man. A better man.”

My chest tightens. I don’t know what’s coming, but the venom in his voice tells me it won’t be good.

“I was in love once,” he says, so softly I have to strain to hear him. “She was everything to me. Her name was Lydia. She walked into my life when I wasn’t even looking, and for a while, I thought she was my future. We were going to have it all. A house, a family. A perfect life together.” His voice hardens. “Two years. Two years of what I thought was perfection. I even asked her to marry me. She was pregnant. I was on top of the world. It was all going to be like some silly fucking fairytale.” He chuckles, shaking his head in bewilderment that he could even believe such a thing.

“I was planning this big surprise for her at work, something to show her how much I loved her, how excited I was for our future.” He pauses, and something cold wraps around my chest,squeezing. “Except I got the reality check of my life when I accidentally bumped into her getting fucked against a wall by her boss.”

Oh my God.My stomach drops.

“I couldn’t understand it. I mean, I’d done everything right. I’d loved her. I would’ve done anything for her—given everything for her. But it wasn’t enough. It had never been enough. She’d been screwing her boss the entire time we’d been engaged, and the child wasn’t even mine,” he chuckles humorlessly, but I can’t bring myself to make a single sound.

“I wasn’t enough. Couldn’t give her the type of money and fancy things she wanted,” he says coldly. “That’s all she cared about. What all women care about.” The venom in his voice is cutting. “Finding something like that out…it does something to you. Changes you, shifts your entire perspective about life and people. But in hindsight, it was the best thing that could’ve happened to me. If it hadn’t happened, then I would’ve married her and been raising a kid that wasn’t even mine, with a woman who was never really mine either.”

My heart hurts for him. I feel like I haven’t taken in a single breath the entire time he’s been speaking, and I force myself to breathe.

“It gave me a clear purpose of what I had to do with my life,” he says, his face hardening. “I used that anger as the fuel I needed to really focus on my career. I channeled all that hurt, turned it into laser sharp focus, and I built my company. I was done with love after that. Done with women, at least in that sense. I got on a flight the very next day and flew down here for Greg’s wedding.”

Wait—the very next day?

“And that’s when we met.” He lifts his gaze to meet mine, and for a second, I see a flicker of something vulnerable.

Oh my God.

I feel tears sting the backs of my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. Not now. Not when he’s baring his soul to me in a way I could have never imagined.

I realize I’m holding my breath again, and slowly let it out.

“Cole…” I whisper, but my voice breaks, and I don’t know what to say.

Finally, it all starts to make sense. Like pieces of a puzzle falling into place.

I think back to all the times Sue’s defended him over the years, saying that was not a true reflection of the type of man he was. I just thought she was sticking up for her husband’s best friend, but it turns out she and Greg were right.

“I was in a really bad place when I met you, Lila,” Cole continues, his voice low and rough, like the words are scraping against something raw inside him. “It doesn’t excuse how I treated you that day, but I hope you can try to understand. Even just a little.” His eyes drop to his hands, his shoulders slumping slightly under the weight of what he’s confided. “It wasn’t your fault. It was never your fault. And you didn’t deserve any of it. From the moment I saw you, I could tell you were…exceptional. The wedding was beautiful. Everything you did that day was flawless. But I couldn’t appreciate it then. I couldn’t see past my own anger, my own pain.” He pauses, his voice dropping. “I was so angry, Lila. So damn angry at the world.”

He looks up at me briefly, but the moment our eyes meet, he glances away again, his gaze falling somewhere over my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Lila. For the way I spoke to you, for the things I said. I was an asshole to you when you were just doing your job, and it’s never been something I was proud of. Not for one second.”

I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. I try again, but my throat closes up, and my brain feels blank, empty, like a canvas wiped clean.

“Why?” I finally manage to choke out. My voice is quiet, shaky. “Why didn’t you ever say anything? All these years…we’ve run into each other at events. Your best friend is my best friend’s husband. Yet you never tried to talk to me. You never tried to make it right.”

My voice rises, frustration bleeding into the hurt I’ve held onto for so long. “I would’ve understood, Cole. If you’d just said something, I would’ve listened. And maybe…” My words catch, and I swallow hard, fighting the burn in my throat.

---