Page 5 of Craving Paradise

“I’m done. There’s no chance we’re getting back together. She’s all yours. You’ve won.”

A flash of regret falls across my former friend’s face as he hears my words. “It wasn’t planned. I didn’t go out there and try to steal her. I think it’s no secret I’ve been in love with Hazel my entire life.”

Been a fucking secret to me.

“It happened one night while you were away in New York on a business trip. She came to my place and hung out like we’ve always done. We both got drunk. Hazel kissed me, and I kissed her back. Next thing we knew, we were waking up in bed together the next morning.”

That was over a year ago. Hearing William’s words is like being hit with a multitude of tiny daggers in my heart. How could they fall into bed together so easily? Did I mean so little to both of them?

“We felt terrible, Jasper,” William adds.

“But not bad enough to stop,” I snap.

William hangs his head. “Hazel didn’t want it to stop, and … I didn’t want it to either,” he confesses.

“Why the hell did Hazel not dump me then? Why did she say yes to moving in? Why did she keep this charade of a relationship going?”

“She loved us both.” William sighs.

“Not good enough,” I yell at him. “You both broke my fucking heart. You hid your relationship behind my back for the past year and a half.”

“I know, Jasper. I told Hazel we needed to tell you, but she said she would in her own time.”

“Seems like she never wanted to make a choice,” Alex grumbles beside me.

“You should have told me. You listened to me going on about the proposal.”

“You would never have listened,” William explains.

“You could have tried,” I say, raising my voice. “You could have told Ali or Alex, and they could have made me rethink proposing. You both made a fool out of me.” I wiggle out of Alistair’s grasp. “I hope she doesn’t fuck you over. That she really is worth blowing your world up for.” I point at my former best friend, and with that, I turn on my heel and leave.

I make a promise to myself to never fall in love ever again.

1

JASPER

In the distance, I hear a phone ringing. Am I dreaming? It continues to bounce around in my head as I try to pull myself from my subconscious back to reality. It takes every effort to open my eyes and push away the layers of sleep to squint at my bedside clock. It’s 4:35 a.m. Who the hell is calling me at this hour? The phone stops before I pick it up. I reach out, grab it, and stare at the lit-up screen, which tells me I have one missed call. If this is a telemarketer calling me, I’m going to lose my mind. Before I read who is calling, my phone vibrates, and my sister’s name lights up the screen. Shit. She shouldn’t be calling me at this hour unless it’s an emergency.

“Autumn, are you okay?”

“No,” she says, sniffling through the speaker.

“What’s happened? Where are you? I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I tell her as panic creeps along my skin. I jump out of bed and head over to my closet to get dressed.

“I’m fine, it’s Daddy. He’s had an accident and is in the hospital. They couldn’t get in touch with anyone else.” She cries down the phone.

Shit.

What the hell kind of trouble has he got himself into now? These phone calls aren’t unusual for him, especially if he’s gotten involved with people who have no qualms about breaking limbs to get their money. He’s a gambling addict and has been his entire life, a disease passed down through the generations. Unfortunately, when it got to him, the world was different, and he couldn’t replenish the coffers as easily as the generations before.

Thankfully, my mother came from a rich aristocratic family who didn’t squander their money on gambling and women, unlike my father’s side. My mother is a fucking saint, putting up with my father’s antics for far too long over the years. She eventually decided enough was enough and divorced our father when I was in high school, and my sister was in primary school.

There’s a seven-year age gap between us and only over the last few years have we become close again. We were always at different stages of our lives growing up, but now, as fully functioning adults, we have more in common.

That might be a stretch, seeing as I own my wealth investment company specializing in generational wealth. I guess a therapist would attribute that to daddy issues, and they would be right. I never want other families to go through the hell we did with our father squandering the family fortune, all because of birth order unfortunately falling onto the wrong sibling. Not everyone is cut out for the rigors of running a vast estate. Ours is quite small compared to some of my clients who have estates worldwide, some even owning countries. But ours comes with a title, one I’ll inherit one day and am proud of. I’ve always known that will be my future—one day, being a Lord—I only hope it’s not all sold off before I get my chance.

My family estate is something I have plans for. I want to revive it, bring it back to its glory days. It’s going to need a lot of money, and the reason I work so hard to create a nest egg is to pay for the home’s restoration so one day I may pass on the estate to my sons. And if I don’t have any sons, then I want my daughters to continue with the estate.

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