Page 69 of The Forever Promise

Just when I thought he would never speak, he said, “It’s because I knew this was going to happen.”

“You knewwhatwas going to happen?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face, suddenly looking tired. “I knew you’d be upset, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“You can not talk to Felicia like you did tonight and make me feel like shit. You could be n-nice to me.” My traitor eyes filled with tears. “There’s no reason for you to treat me like this.”

“Do you think that I want to do this? Do you thinkanyof this is my idea of a good time?” He went and stood by the window, staring out into the darkness. “Christ, I shouldn’t even be standing here. The fucking photographers will have this on the internet tomorrow.”

“Why did you talk to Felicia tonight? You knew that would make me upset. Aren’t the pictures of her already enough?”

He sighed. “Olivia wanted me to. It was staged.”

Ugh.I sank down onto the couch. “Why didn’t you tell me before we went? That way, I wouldn’t have been blindsided.”

“I wasn’t supposed to. Theywantedyou to be blindsided, so they could get the shot. And I did what they asked.” He poured himself another drink.

“Okay.” The weight of what he was saying sunk in. His father had paid for the party so that it looked legitimate. Olivia Jensen had orchestrated the run-in with Felicia. No one had told me about it because they wanted me to be upset, and they wanted it to look natural. They wanted the story to stir up the public’s appetite for Windsor family drama.

“They” meaning Gene Windsor, Olivia Jensen, and…Bryce himself.

He was choosing his company over me. There had never been any competition, anyway. That was the reason I was here. That was the reason he’d married me in the first place. That was the reason he’d brought me back.

“It’s not really okay.” He shrugged. “But that doesn’t change anything. Ha. Turns out, I’m more like my old man than I ever thought. I’m just as bad as he is.”

“That’s not true.” I hesitated for a moment. “So… Did your father ask Felicia to go to the party tonight?”

“I’m sure he did.” Bryce went back to staring out the window. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost my taste for the whole thing.”

“Well… Hopefully it’ll help. Hopefully the photographers got what they needed.”Ineeded to keep my eye on the ball. Bryce had hired me for a reason, and I’d taken the job for a reason. Money.

Keep your eye on the ball, Chlo! Millions of dollars!

I was upset—hurt—but I couldn’t implode now. I reminded myself how much money I was being paid and how much it would mean for Noah. I shouldn’t be so selfish; this wasn’t about me anyway. Bryce and his father had planned the whole evening. They’d wanted Bryce and Felicia to have a private moment together. They’dwantedme to be upset. Obviously, my feelings didn’t matter to my husband—I was a prop, an accessory, a…decoy.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Bryce said, surprising me. “I shouldn’t have thrown you under the bus like that.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

I did. I understood everything.

But that didn’t make any of it okay.

THIRTY-ONE

fetch

We wentto bed without incident, that is, without touching. Even though Bryce had apologized, an iciness had descended upon us. More specifically, an iciness had settled overme. Maybe it was the encounter with Felicia in the bathroom, maybe it was the fact that Bryce had hidden the agenda from me, or maybe it was the residual nastiness from my encounters with Lydia, my father, Bryce, Felicia,anda drunk Mimi Jones throughout the evening.

In any event, I felt frozen, glacial. Who knew how long I would take to thaw? A hundred years, a million.

Bryce was sorry. He’d apologized, which I hadn’t even expected. But the fact that he’d pushed me away again and held me at arm’s length in order todeceiveme hurt more than I could say.

Maybe I wasn’t frozen inside. Maybe I was dead.

I slept fitfully, knowing full well what I had to face in the morning. My father and Lydia were just as bad as Felicia Jones, if not worse. Felicia made being bad look good because she made everything look good. But my father and Lydia were just depressing.

Bryce and I were both awake before the sun came up. It was awkward, being near him but not feeling close to him. This time, the distance was on my end. It was a strange feeling to hold back from him, towantto hold back from him. But it was as if all the wind had been knocked out of me. I had nothing left to say; I couldn’t even catch my breath.

---