Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 122506 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122506 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Her eyes narrow. “You’d better not have called them again.”
“I think you should read your emails.”
Chapter 34
Mila
“Why would you do this?” I whisper as I stare at the phone in my hand.
“If you don’t love me, if you can’t trust me, then I need to let you go. But it doesn’t change how I feel. I love you, and I want to make sure you’re taken care of.”
“I don’t want your money,” I almost sob. “Why can’t you get it through that thick skull of yours?”
“Too bad,” he says, ignoring the insult. “You don’t want me to help you with Roza? Fine. With that,” he says with a vague lift of his hand, “you give her the best life. You don’t want to give up Roza’s flat? Then buy the building—the whole fucking lot! There’s more than enough money for you to do that.”
In the divorce settlement, he means. The preliminary documents from his lawyer, sent to me by email.
“I should hate you,” I whisper, stepping closer. This time, he doesn’t step back. “I should run—run in the opposite direction—because this is just another form of manipulation. Another way to try to control me.”
“I thought it was setting you free. How can I control you by making you as wealthy as me? I’m giving you a lifetime of safety and choices, Mila. The means for you to be well.”
“Well, that part is at least true.” My hands grip his suspenders, my head resting in the middle of his chest. Maybe I should try to hate him, but I can’t, and I don’t want to. Because this is nothing like before. What Adam did. He took—my trust, my dignity, my home, and my mental well-being. But Fin, he gives. And I don’t mean his money—his ridiculous divorce settlement—because that I see right through.
He’s given me his friends, shared them with me. And he’s given me space to work out my insecurities. He’s given me support, his name, and his body, even when he was fearful himself. And he’s given me love.
“I don’t have to take the money,” I whisper as tears leak from my eyes.
“That’s not up to you.” He rubs my back like I’m a child in need of comfort. “Not in a divorce.”
“I can donate it.”
“You could. If you hate me that badly.”
I tilt my head and stare up into those stormy eyes. “I can’t believe you would do this.”
“I can’t believe you’d fight me so hard. Do you know how much I’m worth?”
“Well, yes. It’s in the letter from your lawyer, idiot.”
“Of course, you’ll be vilified in the press,” he adds with a sigh.
“Oh, again? Great. I suppose they’ll call me a gold digger.”
“I expect so.”
I sigh. “Never mind. I’ll just dry my tears with a wad of filthy fifties.”
“There’s always the alternative,” he says as I allow him to unfurl my hand. To press his lips to my wedding ring. “You could keep this on. Stay married to me. Just for, say, forever.”
“That sounds like a life sentence. I ought to take the money and run. People will be calling me a gold digger, anyway.”
“Can’t be a gold digger if you stay blissfully married to me. And I will make you happy my whole damned life.”
“There’s a gulf between charisma and manipulation, you know.” I shake my head. I’m a sucker for the tension in his jaw and that passionate glare of his. He has mad rizz, as the kids would say. Magnetism, charm and appeal. But he also has the capacity for maneuvering and machination. But for good, not to lie or cheat or steal.
What would my life become with him?
“I just want you to be happy, Mila. Whatever it takes.”
“Even if I take the money and walk away?”
“If that’s what makes you happy. If it means you’ll never have to worry again, then yeah. I can cope with that. I’ll be crushed, of course. And you’ll be entirely responsible. You’d need to learn to live with that. If you could. You know, ruining my whole life. But before you decide, there’s one more thing.” He slides his hand into his pocket and pulls out his phone.
“No,” I say on a groan. “Not something else.”
“Watch it. Please.”
Chapter 35
Mila
Fin hands me his phone, open to a Pulse Tok account. There’s just one video available, saved to the drafts folder. Not yet posted or available for all to see.
“Why have you got one of these? A Pulse Tok account?”
“Just watch it, Mila.”
“If this is a smutty video,” I begin as my heart beats like hooves, somehow intuiting what this is.
I’m in that dress, veil rippling in the breeze.
Fin is in his light suit, so handsome, the linen barely creased.
I take a seat as I’m handed a pen, our wedding certificate placed in front of me as I bend my head. Then come up laughing.