Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 135536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
I was going to have a coronary.
At thirty-one.
“I can see why you’re weathering the storm, bro. She’s sex on legs. How’s she maintaining that ass? Five hundred squats a day?”
Try two sleeves of Oreos and a McFlurry.
I wrestled my way through dozens of people until I reached Dallas’s room. Locked. Of course.
I busted the door down with a kick. I wasn’t usually fond of damaging my five-thousand-a-pop rustica doors, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Speaking of desperate, my wife was perched on the edge of her bed, wearing a gaudy, vibrant-green cocktail dress that didn’t belong to her.
Madison kneeled before her, actively weeping into her lap. The man boasted two black eyes from the DIY nose job I’d given him in Paris.
And still, he was idiotic enough to tread into my territory without an entire army by his side.
Dallas looked bored and in character.
It was obvious she’d spent a considerable amount of time waiting for me to make my grand entrance. She wanted my attention—and she would now be at the unfortunate receiving end of it.
Madison scrambled to his feet while Dallas took her time rising, a hint of satisfaction on her luscious, plump lips. She’d won this round, and she knew it. I’d cut my day short to be here.
I circled him now, predatorial. My eyes never wavered from his frame. “Tell me, Licht. Were you absent on the day God handed out brain cells?”
“You can’t lay a hand on me in public.” Madison revealed his cards in our poker game. “And we are, for all intents and purposes, in a public place. There are almost one hundred people here.”
He was right.
Some of them milled outside the room as we spoke, wondering why the door was currently pancaked to the floor and the three of us looked so tense. It seemed apparent at least one of us would leave in a body bag.
“You’re giving me undeserved credit.” I cracked my knuckles, feeling dangerously close to dropping my calm and collected façade. “I may very well kill you right here and right now if you don’t explain to me what I just walked into.”
Shortbread pouted. “We were having a closure conversation.”
I read between the lines. She’d chosen to become a player in this mess. And it worked. This marked the moment she ceased to be collateral.
“Or a make-up conversation,” Madison countered. “Depends on how you look at it, really.”
His attempt at goading me into a mistake was so obvious, he’d be better off taking out a Times Square billboard.
And still, for the first time in my life, I traipsed right into his trap. Stopped circling him. Aimed my fist to his throat.
I almost cut off his oxygen supply, but someone grabbed my elbow.
“Jesus, Rom. What are you doing?” Zach hissed in my ear from behind, pulling me away from Madison.
If it were only Zach, I could probably shake him off. We were similar in size, but I had experience in this field and an extra fifty pounds of rage inside me right now.
Unfortunately, Oliver held my other arm. “I knew he was going to ruin all the fun. Next time, don’t invite him, Daly City.”
Dallas ignored him.
Madison chuckled. “This is all very middle-school playground, Costa. Can’t control your emotions?”
“My emotions are fine. In fact, it felt extra nice to fuck your former fiancée with my tongue five minutes after I broke your nose in Paris.”
A chorus of gasps ricocheted behind my shoulder.
Most people viewed me as an unsympathetic and efficient businessman, who never colored outside the lines or did anything to garner gossip. Positive, negative, or otherwise.
That image crumbled to ruins.
Because of Shortbread.
She’d officially stolen my second scandal, too.
Madison narrowed his eyes, reminding me why shampoo bottles came with instructions. “I should sue you for what you did to me.”
“You should. That way, I can sue you for what you did to me.”
He and I both knew exactly what I’d referred to.
His smile disappeared. He edged himself further from Dallas, who had checked out of this conversation minutes ago and was now examining her cuticles.
Her downturned lips reeked of dissatisfaction. Good thing she’d invited her nail technician, too.
“All right, buddy. Time to get out of here before I, myself, mess your face up further.” With a cheerful grin, Oliver grabbed Madison by the ear like a nineteenth-century principal, dragging him out for all to see. “And I hate to say this, but from the bottom of my heart, you cannot afford more damage to your already average face.”
People spat out nervous laughter. I noticed no phones aimed at us. Shortbread must have confiscated them upon her guests’ arrival.
Smart girl.
Dead girl, too, but smart nonetheless.
With Madison kicking, screaming, and threatening legal action while Oliver literally dragged him from the premises, I addressed the real culprit of my life’s undoing.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”