Page 36 of Stay for Me

My eyes nearly popped out of my head then, and the knife was pulled out from my stomach, leaving a gaping hole. “Excuse me?” I breathed.

Lucas nodded. “It’s time, Diana. We’ve let you have your fun, but with your biological clock ticking, we need to get a move on.”

NowIwas the one looking at him as if he’d grown three heads. I opened my mouth, and nothing but a small sound of disbelief escaped.

Biological clock?

Lucas took this opportunity to keep talking, adding more gasoline to the hellhole of a fire he came here to start. “You’ve made your point, but now, it’s time to be an adult. It’s time to come home.”

“What the actual fuck are you talking about?” Thomas bit off as he came to stand beside me.

Lucas ignored him, pulling out a small black box and opening it to reveal the ring he’d proposed to me with years ago when I was about to finish law school. It wasn’t the ring I’d wanted, but he knew that. After showing him the one I’d wanted, he promised to buy it. That was a lie.

Everything about our relationship was nothing but a sugarcoated lie.

“Why are you still talking to my parents, Lucas?” I uttered, trying to wrap my head around the insanity flowing from his mouth.

He scoffed and threw his hands out. “Because they’refamilyto me, Diana, and when we’re finally married, it will be official.”

When we’re finally married.

I shook my head, fear coiling around my neck as the pit in my stomach stretched. “I don’t know what world of delusion you’ve decided to take up permanent residence in, but you and I are over, Lucas. I left you and moved on over adecadeago,” I said, each word gentler than the last, because narcissists didn’t take rejection well. I knew this would make him explode, and I silently prayed the blast wouldn’t be anything compared to the day I left him. The vein in his forehead began to pop and I looked over to Thomas, silently signaling him to call Chase.

Thomas gave me a slight nod, one Lucas was too busy to notice, and moved.

As he walked away, Lucas threw his hands into his thinning hair. “Diana, enough with the games!” he roared, causing me to flinch. “Your father said you were ready to come home and I’m here to make that happen.”

As I stepped back, I lifted my chin. “I won’t be going anywhere with you, Lucas.” He was back to staring at me again. “Now, I’m asking you to leave, and this time, stay the hell out of my life.”

My ex dropped his head, shaking it as he muttered something underneath his breath.

“If you have something to say,” I called, “I suggest you say it with your entire chest.” His head snapped up, his eyes filled with so many things, anger being one and hatred being the second. The young woman inside me, the one who was happy to be a wife and build a life with a man, trembled with fear, memories of Lucas dragging us back into the apartment by our hair bubbling up to the surface.

The grown woman I was now, wasn’t trembling with fear, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t cautious. Lucas couldn’t hurt me here. I was in a safe space. No one, not my parents nor the man standing in the waiting area of the firm I’d built from the ground up, got to dictate my life and the way I lived it.

I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

“You little bitch,” he pushed out slowly, his shoulders rising and falling. “I’m here to give you something you’ve always dreamed of, to give you the life you’ve always wanted and—”

“I’m living the life I’ve always wanted, Lucas. You knew back then all I wanted to do was to study law,” I said firmly, a memory from a few Christmases ago lingering in the back of my mind. It was one of the longest conversations I’d ever had with Mags, and the entire thing was centered around the jackass standing in front of me.

He calls you a bitch again, his body will burn on the mountain just like all others.

As Mags’ warning echoed in my mind, Lucas snarled, “Yes, and you went to school. You studied it and now look at you.”

My spine snapped straight, knowing exactly where he was going with this.

He pointed at me, his upper lip curled. “This is why women shouldn’t—”

“Careful now,” I cooed, clicking my tongue. “Your sexist side is showing. You might want to tuck that back in before Chase gets here. He’s not fond of assholes like you.”

Lucas’ face twisted in a mix of anger and confusion. “Who the fuck is Chase?” he barked as the glass door behind him opened.

“That would be me,” a deep, smooth voice said. The younger version of me inside my soul relaxed, forcing me to let out a small breath of relief.

My ex whirled to face the blue-eyed sheriff, taking in his tan uniform, badge, and the gun strapped to his hip. “You the man fucking my fiancée?” he growled, pointing at me.

I rolled my eyes. “For the last time, Lucas, I am not your anything,” I said, my eyes shooting over to chase. “I would like this man to leave.”

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