Page 84 of The Legend (Rivers Wilde 2)

“I want power and freedom.”

“You’re already powerful, Joni. And I don’t see any shackles around your wrists.”

“Just because you can’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there. And the only power I have is because my father is powerful. I’m just his daughter. I have ambitions greater than that. And there are some doors that will only open to me if I have a powerful, wealthy man beside me.”

“Well, shit if that’s all you want, there are about a hundred men in this hotel who fit that description.”

She scoffs. “Ninety-nine percent of them are either, too old, gay, or psychotic. It’s hard to find a good-looking, wealthy, young, straight man. If I’m going to let someone lock me up in the proverbial tower, I would at least like to enjoy the view.”

She looks me up and down like I’m a horse she’s considering buying. And I feel like I’m seeing her, really seeing her, for the first time.

“You’re cold, Joni.”

“As a brick of ice.” She clears her throat, but otherwise, she appears completely unfazed.

“So, you don’t really care that we’re breaking up?” I ask surprised.

She gathers her purse and phone from the table and stands.

“Like you said, there are a hundred men in this hotel who will do the job. I’ll miss the view but I’ve got my pride, Remington. And I won’t miss the constant reminders that you were settling for me.”

She looks me up and down and shakes her head. “What a waste.” She says before she walks out of our hotel room and out of my life.

As I board my flight back to Washington, I feel like I’m living in a whole new world. The hope-fueled torch I’ve carried for Kal has been snuffed out.

We’re not getting our happy ending.

I fucked-up.

She’s moved on.

Somewhere between those two facts is our full story.

A story held together by a mortar made up of my mother’s manipulations and her mother’s fuckups, my idiocy and the unpredictable twists of fate.

Look at what love does to people. Look what it did to me. I don’t care what Joni thinks, it’s the last thing I want to fuck with again.

I’m in the middle of a crucial, final year in law school. I’m competing for a federal clerkship that would put me on the path to US Attorney or Assistant Attorney General.

I’ve busted my ass in law school and not only am I number one in my class, but I’ve already established myself as one hell of a litigator in training during our moot court hearings.

People thought basketball was my gift.

I used to think so, too.

But, how good I am on the basketball court is a mere trifle compared to how good I am in a courtroom.

Advocacy is my gift and deciding to follow my convictions and go to law school was the best thing I ever did.

And now, it’s the only thing I’ve got. I feel sick as I think about Kal being with someone else. It’s not the future I imagined. But, I’ll make it be enough.

III

Again

Present Day

22

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