Page 10 of Christmas in Kiwi Country

Our bed.

“We’re not the same people anymore, Cullen. You can’t possibly say you’re happy with me.”

“Every marriage has its ups and downs. We just lost Naomi, and that’s unimaginable for all of us but we can get through this. Together.”

She rolls her chocolate-brown eyes and I push down my aggravation. She knows I hate when she does that.

“You married me because I was Naomi’s best friend and it was fun for brothers to date best friends,” she says casually.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Don’t play games with me; we both know what this was.”

“What thiswas?” I roar. “Building a life? A career? A family? You think I fucking fell in love with you because you’re Naomi’s best friend? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Was.”

“Excuse me?”

“Was. I was her best friend and I’m not going to stay here and watch you all wither away to nothing over something we all knew was coming.”

I blink and my mouth falls open. Who is this woman?

“Seriously,” Carmen says, “stop looking so shocked. I’ll take Isla and put her in a boarding school away from this place and maybe she’ll meet some rich guy…”

Her words trail off and she looks at me with a shrug as if to sayworked for me.

I wasn’t rich when I’d met her, but I’d done well over the years.

Better than well.

Fuck.

“You’re not taking my daughter.”

“Our—”

“SHE’S MY FUCKING DAUGHTER!” The words are a guttural cry from somewhere inside me I never knew existed. My heart races and I’m seething.

A slow grin spreads across her face. It’s cunning and I hate her. I fucking hate her for using me. Using Isla. This isn’t the woman I married—the one who shared my bed and told me she’d love me forever.

“What will it take to keep her?” She says the words without emotion, and I swear I’ve never been so ripped apart in my entire life.

My mind flashes to the pictures the private investigator sent me of Carmen and a sniveling little fuckwad accountant named Darren. If the guy thinks his girlfriend is going to bankroll a high-class life for him, he’s sorely mistaken. One phone call and I’ll topple his entire world. See how long Carmen stays after that.

I may be drowning in grief, but I am not stupid. Naomi was my sister-in-law but she’d also been one of my best friends. I’d relied on her to do all the things Carmen seemed incapable of—things I’d now have to step up and do.

Carmen had been more distant after Naomi was diagnosed. At first I’d chalked it up to shock and processing, but after a while I couldn’t ignore the little voice that told me something wasn’t right. I’d had her followed even though I already knew what they’d find.

She’d been seeing this guy for months. I’d hoped that if nothing else, Naomi’s death would bring her back to me—that we’d grieve together and help my brother raise Emerson as a family.

“Send me the papers and get thefuckout of my house,” I say with a deadly calm tone that leaves no room for interpretation.

Carmen’s lips twitch. She doesn’t know I know about Darren, and she doesn’t know the extent to which I’ve protected Isla financially. She can take me for everything I’m worth but Isla will be safe.

My daughter will never know the failures of the woman that brought her into this world. Carmen isn’t her mother. She is a monster in designer clothes with a taste for expensive jewelry.

I should have known. I should have seen this side of her, but it doesn’t matter now. I’ll die before I ever make this mistake again. From this day forward, the only women in my life will be my daughter and my niece. I’ll learn how to do their hair and, heaven help me, their makeup, and get them someone to talk about their periods and all the shit a mother should be there for.

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