Page 137 of Dex

My father misleading him through the books, a serious offence, might just have given him what he wanted, but much sooner.No wonder he threatened to expose my father, who probably signed under duress.There was a reason we didn’t get a copy of the original contract.I won’t be surprised to discover that Paul Knight planned this from the start.

I tell my father not to worry, that we will fix this.We’ll find out a way.I urge him to get some sleep and promise to call him again tomorrow.

Defeat and resignation are quickly replaced by rage as I rush out of my room and knock on Dexter’s door.He needs to know.He opens the door quickly, an ugly frown on his face.“What?”He’s just come out of the shower, towel around his waist, body dripping wet.

I force myself to look at his face, trying to suppress the memories that light up in my head.“Your father … your father tricked mine.”I’m so filled with rage that I can’t get the words out.I wave my cellphone at him.“He tricked my father into signing over the majority share in the company.”

Dexter shakes his head slowly.“That sonofabitch,” he says, slowly, wiping a hand over his face.“I knew the old man would try to pull a fast one.I just wish it wasn’t this.”

“But itisthis.He’s done it.”

Dexter walks around in his room, water droplets trickling down his muscled torso.He looks tortured.Defeated, too.“If I had known I would have been better prepared to prevent something like this.”

“I keep telling you, I didn’t know the whole truth.I wish you’d believe me.But this, your father tricking my father into signing over the majority share in his company, what are we going to do about that?”He’s not listening to me.He seems to be caught up in his own world.“Dexter!”I shriek.“What are we going to do?”I’m trying hard not to become hysterical, but I worry that he’ll repeat his old patterns again and retreat into his safety zone.He’ll choose to be alone.

I found a way to reach him.Made him see that old wounds can be healed, that the past as he believed it was wrong.I thought I was getting through to him, but these recent developments haven’t helped.Yet, I still believe we can overcome this.We love each other.We’re perfect for each other.We want one another.We can fix this.

I reach out and place my hand on his chest.It’s warm and slightly damp, and brings back a flood of memories.“We can fight this, Dexter.We can fix it.”

To my quiet surprise, he doesn’t flinch or recoil from my touch, but his face twists as if he can’t bear it.“I need to tell you something,” he says, in a voice that sounds unfamiliar.Vulnerable.Soft.My stomach hollows out, because his voice, that look, the vibes rolling off him, they all scream trouble.I brace myself for the worst.“I was never supposed to stay.”

It takes a few seconds for his words to sink in.“Stay?”I stumble back a few steps.“What do you mean you were never supposed to stay?”

He closes his eyes and buries his face in his hands.

“What are you saying, Dexter?”

He looks at me like I’m the problem.Like this is my fault.“This was never supposed to happen.I was supposed to walk away.”

I stare at him in shock.“Walk away?From me?From us?”

“From this arrangement.Initially I thought I’d do it after seven months, but then I started thinking, maybe I do it in three months ...”

I gasp in shock, unable to utter a word.Three months?

“I’d decided early on, before we got to know one another …”

My mind goes into overdrive, as Dexter continues, my heart shattering while I try desperately to compose myself in the face of such news.He was going to walk away, before the year was up.

“But now I’m implicated in this mess,” he says, more to himself, swiping a hand over his face.“All this means now is that my father will find a way to get one over me.The only reason I agreed to marry you was to get one over him.To spite him.”

My head starts to spin.This can’t be real.After everything we shared, everything we did, the intimacy we had.Those hot, passionate nights in bed.Were they lies?Was he using me?“You don’t mean that,” I whisper.

“I just want to be honest with you.In the beginning, I married you out of spite, not love, but then it turned into love.”

A heavy rock sinks in my belly.He married me out of spite.Whatever he said after that doesn’t register.I barely have time to compose myself.To force myself to stand straighter.To remember who I am.That I am built strong.That I can handle men who treat me badly.“It was never supposed to be about love,” I remind him.“It was just an alliance.”

“Yes,” he says, agreeing easily, while my heart sinks further down my stomach.“It was an alliance, but now …” His gaze settles on me.I like to think it’s because he cares about me, but I can’t trust my stupid heart and my silly feelings.“But now, not only am I involved with you, it’s become even more complicated.As you’ve discovered, my father has found a way to punish your family.He’ll punish us, too.I know this.Because that’s the kind of man he is.”

He’s angry.He’s angry at himself for giving into his feelings for me.That’s what my heart tries to tell me.He thinks we’ll both have to suffer for it.But the logical part of me wants the truth.“Did none of it mean anything?Our nights together?The things we said to one another?”

“They meant everything but I just need some time and space to think this through,” he says, a faraway look in his eyes.

It’s the “but” I hear, loud and clear.

“I told you we’d have to pay for it.This is what my father does.I’ve never trusted him, and I told you to be careful.Why do you think I initially stayed away from you, Daniela?”

“There are so many reasons and you keep giving me new ones,” I snap.“Every time I come to you, you push me away.Every time.”

---