“Bloody hell!” I bellowed into the empty house, loathing this hollowness rutting into my soul as I carelessly poured the liquor into the glass, filling it to the rim.

Gisele loathed my guts now. Love, she surely never felt for me. Lust, yeah, unquestionably. But love? No…How could she when she barely knew me? Throughout the years, I could count how many times we shared a conversation, and there weren’t many. I made it my mission to stay away from her. It successfully lasted until Peter requested I marry his daughter. Things had gone downhill since I had shared her bed. It certainly had gone to the shitters when she had kissed me and I’d responded in the same feverish manner.

My chest heaved as I recalled how it felt to have her in my arms…that day in my bedroom closet…

FUCK.

Was I destined to be hounded by Gisele, too? Did I not have enough to deal with already?

“Bloody fuck!!!”

My throat bobbed before I gulped down the entire whiskey without pause.

I wasn’t truly sure what possessed me, but I somehow found myself weaving towards the office instead of my bedroom, bottle in hand. The lights immediately flickered to life the moment my foot stepped across the threshold. Scurrying towards the computer terminal, I instantly scoured for the compounds’ security cameras. It took forty seconds to access it. Gisele didn’t have cameras in her bedroom, but I somehow wanted to double check that she was safe, if she was home and wasn’t partying elsewhere, that was.

After promptly choosing the first floor, the massive screen filled with twenty-four rectangular squares, each showcasing different locations inside the house. My eyes zeroed in on the first one at the top left, making sure there weren’t any movements. I was about to place a call to Mike, the head of security in charge out of six men, when something caught my eye.

Box twenty-one and twenty-two, the kitchens.

Zooming in on the particular cameras, the enlarged scene unfolding before me stopped me dead. All brain and body activity halted as my eyes zeroed in on the screen.

Gisele was on the granite counter, dress hiked up all the way to her thighs, legs hanging loosely behind a man’s shoulders while his head latched onto her snatch. There was a seductive smile on her face before she tenderly looked down on him. Wyatt Rinaldi came into view. She murmured something that halted his laborious ministrations before he crawled in between her legs and met her lips, kissing her explicitly, implicitly. After a good minute, they then exited the kitchen, heading straight to the second floor, towards her bedroom.

I didn’t dare blink until her bedroom door shut. Only then did I let out a drawn-out breath. The air hitting my lungs pained my chest. It stung.

The nonsensical riot ensuing in my mind made me reckless. My chest ached, and all I could focus on was Gisele on the bed, wanton and magnificently naked with Wyatt Rinaldi…seductively enticing him to satiate her needs as he crawled in between her legs while she offered her luscious breasts for him to suckle on.

My entire body overheated. My imagination didn’t help ease the blistering inferno raging in my body.

I wasn’t a daft man. Of course I knew they were shagging each other blind in her bedroom. Her birthday fuck and I was quite certain she was reveling in his undivided attention. She was a responsive lover who thrived on being touched, stroked in all places.

After I left her in such a dejected state, this pain she unconsciously inflicted upon me was what I truly deserved. My mother made me promise not to intervene when she found someone else. Could I truly keep a promise when all I could see and think about was Gisele?

The unwanted wife no longer.

CHAPTER17

Gisele

“I said nine, not eight-thirty, Wyatt!”I called out from the vanity the moment I heard my bedroom door slam shut. Since tonight was my birthday, Blair and Vivienne were throwing me a costume party in Blair’s home. Even if it was ten doors down, Wyatt had insisted on picking me up.

My eyes scanned my outfit and my heavily contoured makeup, seemingly pleased with the outcome. Steadily taking my pearl earring studs off, I replaced them with large silver hooker hoops, impeccably complimenting my risqué outfit.

Blair had no clue what Wyatt and I had been up to as of late. However, I intended to break the news to her this evening. Hopefully, she wouldn’t shrill and throw a tantrum. One couldn’t really guess how she’d react. Blair was…well, Blair. She was a sweet terror, and I loved her dearly, but I was not going to deny that the woman could be frightening.

Wyatt had been a true gentleman, giving in to whatever I wanted. He wasn’t aggressive and would immediately withdraw if I wished him to, which was quite often. After Jared’s severe action of cutting me out of his life, coming home to an empty house didn’t help my disheartened mood. Wyatt saved me from my darkened thoughts, and I couldn’t have been more grateful for his flirty, charismatic company. He and I weren’t necessarily dating. We simply were enjoying each other’s company for the time being. Where this relationship would lead us, we would see. It was too early to tell. We had tons of fun and I admitted his light-hearted personality added to his appeal. He audaciously offered himself as my distraction, and I was somewhat obliged to sample him. The man hadn’t disappointed.

Grasping my favorite perfume bottle, I spritzed on my wrists, behind my ears, and another one targeting my legs. Wyatt fixated on long toned legs, so I wanted my stems to be as enticing as possible. Giving myself a quick once-over, I decided I was set to go.

Leaving the vanity area, I strode towards the bedroom with a naughty smile teasing my lips. “Wyatt?”

I was a step away from entering the threshold of my bedroom when I halted right at the doorframe. Jared’s tall commanding presence dominated the bedroom. He glowered at the nightstand. My eyes flickered towards the table where Wyatt’s cuff links and Rolex watch were scattered on the mirrored surface.

My breathing hitched, my pulse quickened, and all of a sudden, I felt the magnitude of seeing him in the flesh. My heart ached at the sight of him. It had been a month, and his effect on me hadn’t dwindled. It couldn’t be denied; I missed him dearly. There wasn’t a day I hadn’t thought of him and prayed he was well.

“Jared.” His name escaping my lips sounded like more of a caress than a greeting.

At the sound of his name, the man cocked his head, directing those chilling blue eyes, disgustedly flickering them at my present garish ensemble.