Page 31 of King of Greed

My stomach hollowed further. “Where are you going?”

My question echoed like a gunshot in the silence. Alessandra froze for a second before she resumed dressing. “Back to Sloane’s. I have a lot of work to do.”

“I see.” I got out of bed, my movements slow and precise. Controlled, unlike the dread and anger flaring in my chest. “Were you planning to say goodbye, or were you going to sneak out like I’m a one-night stand you regret?”

No reply.

Goddammit.I’d thought we were making progress, but I could feel her slipping away before I truly had a chance to have her again.

“What happened last night— ”

“Was a mistake.” Her fingers shook as she smoothed the front of her dress. “And so was what happened at the bar.”

“It didn’t sound like a mistake when you were screaming my name and begging me to let you come.” My silken response didn’t match the thorny vines creeping through my chest. The more seconds that passed, the deeper they gouged.

Scarlet washed over Alessandra’s face. “It was just sex.” Her voice wobbled on the wordsex,but her body remained stiff and unyielding as I crossed the room to stand in front of her. “It didn’t mean anything.”

“Bullshit.” I’d seen the way she looked at me and heard the way she whispered my name. Neither of us did “just sex,” much less with each other.

“Our sex life wasn’t an issue, but we can’tsolveour issues with sex.” Alessandra finally met my eyes, her expression locked tight behind a steel wall. “I was drunk at the bar, and we were caught up in the adrenaline of what happened at Le Boudoir last night. There were too many emotions flying around that had nothing to do withthis.” She gestured between us.

Le Boudoir. Roman.Fuck.That was a whole other mess, but I’d deal with it later. For now, I focused all my energy on breathing through the strangling knot in the back of my throat. Beneath it, a fresh ember of anger sparked, and I grasped at it like a drowning man at rope.

“So what? You’re going to walk out and pretend like nothing happened? What are you going to do, Alessandra?” I bit out. “Run to your fancy divorce lawyer and ask him to do your dirty work for you again because you’re too scared to face me yourself?”

An audible inhale. “Fuck you.”

“You already did.”

I saw it coming, but the crack of her palm against my cheek hurt more than I’d expected. The fire spread from my face to my chest, where it ate away at the pieces of my heart while Alessandra and I stared at each other, our breaths jagged.

“I’m…I didn’t mean…” She faltered, looking stunned.

My anger drained so quickly I didn’t have time to register its loss, and the cold shock of remorse took its place.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Broken relationships belonged in the past with the old Dominic, who had nothing to keep people around. No one had cared about me until I made something of myself. The more money I accumulated, the more people gravitated toward me. It was a law of human nature. I wasn’t supposed to lose the only person I cared about keeping now, when I was richer than I’d ever been.

“Get out of my classroom.”

“You stupid,stupidboy. No wonder your own mother abandoned you…”

“Your current foster parents have requested you be moved to a different home…”

I forced the memories at bay. I didn’t live in that world anymore, and I would rather die than return.

I touched my cheek. The aftermath of Alessandra’s slap stung less than the chasm between us. She stood less than a foot away, but we might as well be on different continents.

In a distant part of the house, the sound of a vacuum started up and severed the spell keeping us frozen. Alessandra turned, and I grasped her wrist before she could leave.

“Don’t.” My heart fought to break out of my chest with vicious blows. “I’m sorry,amor.”

I’d been an asshole, but when my only choices were pain or anger, my instinct was to seek shelter in the latter.

She exhaled a shuddering breath. “Let me go.”

My grip tightened. She wasn’t talking about just this moment, and we both knew it.

“I wish I could.” It would be easier if I never fell for her. I went into our first meeting determined to hate her, not knowing she would be the one who showed me what real love was instead. I might not have expressed it as often as I should’ve, but she’d always been the sun keeping my world in orbit.

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