Page 77 of Vengeful Seduction
No matter what had been done to me, it just wasn’t in me to do something like that. I had been broken, but not so completely that I’d do something that just wasn’t in me to do. The money his grandfather left me should’ve been David’s. No matter what had happened between them, that is exactly how it should’ve been.
I wasn’t blaming poor Theodore for what had happened to me, but it was his decision to change his will that had caused this. I just wanted out. I wanted out of all of it. Forever.
“You win,” I commented softly and rose to my feet. My legs were shaking, but I was determined. “I offered you half before I even knew how much you wanted it. Well, now you can have it all. Every last cent. This house. The cars. It’s all yours. It’s not like I ever wanted any of it. It was thrust upon me, so to speak. Your grandfather never told me what he was doing with his will, or I would’ve told him not to leave a damn thing to me. That’s not who I am. I would’ve told him to leave it to you, even though I didn’t even know you at the time. I would’ve told him that he’d hate himself for his actions if he left you nothing at all. But I didn’t get a chance to, since he kept it a secret. It seems you Blacks are very good at keeping your secrets. I’m better off, I guess.”
What did any of it matter to me, really? I didn’t want t—not when I knew just how much David did and how much he’d been willing to do to get it all.
“Kaye …” his voice cracked and it made me flinch.
God, I still hated to hurt him so much. Love was a wicked thing. A cruel thing. A thing that made people do the most idiotic things.
I steeled myself, pulling myself up straight and trying to sound confident and strong. “I hope you’re happy.” Despite all of my best efforts, my voice broke and tears started to fall down my cheeks. I had been holding it together just fine, but now it was time to say goodbye.
It was going to be the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life.
His one word came out in a harsh breath, “No …”
“You should be happy. You got the only thing you ever wanted—the only thing you have ever loved.” I paused and then added as I shook my head, “I will never trust another human being again. Never.”
What else was there to say? I didn’t look at him, trying to avoid him seeing the tears dripping down my face. I just turned away, intending to leave. I would go right to my lawyer, ask for the divorce, and sign everything over to David.
Or so I thought, until I heard the faint rustle of movement behind me. The next thing I knew, David’s large, strong hand closed around my wrist and pulled me back.
David
Kaye was going to leave.
I could see it. I could tell it wasn’t a bargaining chip. She wasn’t trying to manipulate me. She really was going to leave after giving me freely everything I’d wanted.
Everything I’d thought I’d wanted, anyway.
I moved before I thought, and when I put my hand on her wrist and she spun around, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see the anger in her face.
There was no anger there. Only tears and pain. These horrible gifts I had given to her.
“Don’t go,” I whispered, and if I had thought it would help, I would have fallen right down onto my knees then and there. I would have begged for her to stay, and I wasn’t the sort of man who begged. Ever.
“Why?” Kaye asked, and she used her free hand, the one I wasn’t holding, to dash the tears from her eyes. They were swollen and red, but she had never looked more beautiful to me.
Now that I was going to lose her, I realized just how crazy I really was about her and how thoroughly I’d fallen in love, despite all of my efforts to avoid it. I was utterly smitten, completely and totally hers.
Too bad I had only fully realized it while I was losing her. But I had to at least try, didn’t I?
“I have something more to confess to you,” I said quietly and watched as her eyes widened.
More? I could pretty much guess she was thinking. What else was I going to drop on her now? “David, please,” she whispered, and I could feel her small body shaking. I didn’t let her go, though. I pulled her closer to me, gazing down into her beautiful face. Our bodies were so close that I could feel the heat radiating off of hers.
“Please,” I echoed her. “Just hear me out. If you still want to go when I’m done talking, I won’t stop you.”
I wouldn’t. It was definitely her right. I’d certainly put her through enough—she didn’t owe me even this much of her time.
She glanced down at my hand on her wrist, then took a step back. She didn’t actually pull her wrist away, though, so I kept my grip on it. This might be the last time I ever got to touch her, after all.
“Okay,” she allowed, and I took a deep breath. Against all odds, she was giving me this chance to explain myself.
I didn’t deserve it, and I knew it, but I was going to make the best of the opportunity. “I love you,” I started. It seemed the best place to start—the best base to build my argument from. I saw the skepticism in her eyes and knew I deserved it, but I kept going. “I have almost from the beginning. Since before our wedding. From the very first time we were intimate, or maybe before that.”
“David, please.” Kaye was very pale as she looked at me. “Stop it. You don’t have to do any of this.”
