Page 21 of Fortress of the King

She spares me a look. “He wasn’t in your office long enough to saythank youproperly. Does he have a brother?” she muses.

“Three, actually.” I almost slap myself for knowing that.

“Hey!” Melody cries out, as I feel a hand tug on my elbow from out of nowhere.

I spin and see the inconceivable sight of Dane, my ex, standing right behind me.

What the fuck is he doing here?

This isn’t part of the plan. He can’t be here…

I stare at him and try to wriggle free at the same time.

“What the hell?” I snatch my arm back and step away when the realization finally hits.

“Rayne, I just need a minute to talk,” he pleads.

The mere sight of him makes my hackles rise. How I could have stayed with him as long as I did now seems obtuse.

Melody quickly catches on and stands protectively beside me, her hands on her hips.

This is not what I want, not here, not anywhere. He’s supposed to be in New York with no idea where I am!Double fuck.

“Dane,” I whisper-shout angrily. “If you want to speak to me, you have to do it through the lawyers, you know that.”

“You heard her.” Melody steps in and yanks on my other arm, but people are starting to glance over at us, and I shake my head and decide to not make this bigger than it needs to be.

“It’s okay, Mel, he’s my ex,” I say to her, keeping my eyes on him. I nod toward the entrance; I need to get him outside. “You’ve got one minute.”

He looks like hell, like he just got over a bad flu or something.

“Rayne, you don’t have to do anything. I can call security.” Melody does not seem impressed by his sudden intrusion. In fact, she appears like she might tackle him.

“It’ll only take a moment,” I assure her, and I stalk towards the entrance as he quickly follows behind. I step out into the cold and wrap my arms around myself. I walk up the street a door or two away, so we’re not directly outside the gallery.

I spin to face him. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He stares at me, towering over me. He has dark circles under his eyes that tell me he’s still drinking heavily.

“I just want to talk, you won’t take any of my calls,” he says, low but insistent.

I scoff. “You know, you have some nerve showing up here like this, after the hell you’ve put me through this last year. I’ve got nothing to say to you that I haven’t said already.”

He reaches for me but I step back. “Please, Rayne, I miss you…”

He misses my money, more like.

“Don’t touch me, please just leave. I’ll remind you that you’re in violation of your restraining order, I don’t want this to get ugly, so just go.”

He stares at me. “You weren’t serious about that, were you?”

“Surely you can’t be serious about that ridiculous extortion attempt at alimony, the one that’s going to make me broke. You can’t just show up like this!”

“I’m ready to reach a settlement, Rayney. I didn’t want it to be this way.”

I shudder at him calling me that nickname. “Great, you can talk to your lawyer, who will talk to my lawyer about it, and that’s that.” I’m about to really lose my shit with him.

He steps forward, and this time, he catches me on the upper arm, the force shocking me.

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