Page 121 of Brutal Devil
I lay it out for her the same way I laid it out in my head as the doc was tending to my shoulder. It’s an easy way out. We don’t have any combined assets, and I’ll personally see to it that her father’s businesses thrive. She’ll either make a boatload of cash by selling to me, or a boatload by letting me run them for her.
“That’s…that’s generous of you.”
She sounds disappointed.
Hurt.
But she’s in bad shape. She’s vulnerable, not thinking clearly. The badass who fought me every step of the way will return by morning, and I know she’ll leap at the chance to have her old life back.
I shrug my good shoulder. “It’s what’s fair.”
“So, you’re just letting me go. After all this.”
“Yeah. I’m letting you go, and you’re going to let me go too. You’re going to forget you ever fucking knew me.”
She rolls her lips inward, pressing them together, like she’s trying to compose herself before speaking again. “I don’t think that will be possible. You’re pretty unforgettable.”
So is she.
“You will.”
Yeah, she’ll forget me. She’ll move on with some fucking professor who wears a sweater and sensible loafers and reads for pleasure, and I’ll make sure I never know who he is or I’ll want to hunt him down and end the bastard.
I look away from the tears that are glittering in her honey-brown eyes and lean forward long enough to kiss her cheek. “Goodbye, Luna.”
I don’t wait for her answer. Like the coward I am, I just get the fuck out of there, stopping long enough to find Saint waiting in the kitchen, armed with a dustpan and brush and a roll of paper towels.
“You finished?” he asks curtly.
“Yeah, we’re fucking finished,” I bite out. “Do me a favor and get her settled in a room for the night. Check on her every hour while she’s sleeping or whatever shit Doc told you to do.”
“Why don’t you check on her? She’s your wife.”
He doesn’t usually challenge me this way. But I’m not in any condition to check his attitude. I’m too shattered inside to give a shit.
“I need to get back to the city,” I tell him. “Some things came up. Roc will be back to take her to the airport in the morning. I’ll have flights arranged for her by then.”
“Fuck.” My brother shakes his head, looking at me like I’m a piece of dog shit stuck to his shoe. “You’re really just going to leave her like this, after everything that went down?”
“Yeah,” I growl. “I am. You got a problem with that? Because the last time I checked, I’m the fucking don. Not you.”
“No problem. See you later,frattore mio. Hope you sleep well tonight.”
He turns on his heel and leaves the kitchen.
“Fuck.” I pick up the nearest available object, which happens to be a crystal pepper mill, and hurl it into the wall.
Then I find Roc and get the hell out of there before I do something stupid.
Chapter 29
LUNA
Curled up on a chair by a rainy window in my new apartment, I stare at my phone. It’s been a month since I woke up in Priest’s country mansion with a concussion and a broken heart. A month since the night he told me he was giving me the divorce I wanted. That I was no longer necessary for his empire.
He hasn’t tried to call.
Not even a text to see how I’m doing.
