Page 59 of Unmasked

Damian waited for the wave of rage to flow over him, but strangely, it didn’t come. It struck him that he didn’t give a shit if Jenny and Ben got married because, as far as he was concerned, they deserved one another.

“I wish you a long and happy life together,” he said.

Ben blinked. Obviously it wasn’t the rise he’d been expecting—or hoping—for. But something Lainey had said had struck him.

If you knew things were going to end anyway, you wouldn’t still be pissed about it years later.

It dawned on him that he had known things were going to end with Jenny before he caught her with Ben. In fact, he’d thought about how to end their marriage more than once. Naively, he’d assumed she wouldn’t want that, despite their numerous arguments. And it wasn’t the fact that she’d moved on that’d hurt him. It wasn’t even the cheating, now that he thought about it. It was the fact that she’d targeted his boss—someone Damian had once admired and respected—that made him see red.

She’d wanted to hurt him as much as possible.

And how is that different from you specifically targeting Jerry McPartlin? You wanted to hit him where it hurt, too.

Holy shit. Clarity struck him with the force of a head-on collision: by prioritising revenge, by aiming to inflict pain on someone else for his own emotional gain, he’d acted exactly like Ben and Jenny. He’d let what they’d done turn him into the very thing he claimed to hate.

And all the while he’d pushed Lainey away because he was too chicken to put himself in a vulnerable position again. Talk about being a hypocrite.

“I mean it,” Damian said. “I hope your marriage is better than what we had. I don’t want to wish that on anyone. Not even you.”

“Excuse me?” Ben spluttered.

“I won’t be attending. But I guess you knew that already.” Damian handed the envelope back. “Stop thinking about me and start thinking about your future wife.”

He left the other man standing there, shell-shocked, and closed the door. Lainey had been right all along—instead of getting on with his life, he’d been clinging to his own history. Signing Jerry McPartlin hadn’t been the key to moving forward—it was simply another rope tying him to his past. A way for him to feel like he was making progress, while still trying to protect himself.

But all he’d ended up doing was losing the one woman who saw through all his shit and still wanted him. A woman who was so maddening and intoxicating and wonderful that he should have done everything in his power to make her feel like the goddess she was. He’d failed her. Miserably.

“Not anymore,” he said, reaching for his phone. He swiped at the screen and called his assistant, hoping she was still in the office even though he’d left early because he couldn’t concentrate.

“McKnight Management, Leila speaking.”

Thank God.“Hey. I need you to book me an urgent flight to London. Tomorrow morning.”

He grabbed the small suitcase that had his essentials already packed for emergency consulting trips.

“You’re meeting with Mr. McPartlin tomorrow,” Leila said. Rustling sounded in the background. “Eleven thirty.”

“Reschedule it.” He hoisted the suitcase onto his bed and flipped it open.

“But it’s your first meeting. Mr. McPartlin specifically requested—”

“Reschedule it,” Damian repeated. “I need to get to London. His business is running fine. It won’t fall apart if he has to wait a few days. And if he can’t wait, then he’s welcome to leave.”

The shocked silence on the other end of the line dragged on for a few minutes before his assistant agreed. Ten minutes later the flight information came through.

Now all he had to do was find out where Lainey was staying and figure out how to make it up to her. It wouldn’t be easy, but that was alright. She deserved something honest and real and raw, all the things he’d been afraid of. All the things he knew could hurt him.

But it was time to let go of his safety net. He loved Lainey Kline, and if that made him crazy, then so be it.

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