After His Betrayal, I Became the Woman He Couldn't Afford novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Finished Is a Tuesday

Bea closed the laptop and looked at my face.

"Go," she said.

"Go where?"

"To the one person in this city who isn't lying to you. He lives on the fortieth floor, and you've been staring at the wall for ten minutes."

"He told me nothing happens until it's over."

"Sylvie." She pointed her spoon at the door. "It's midnight and they planned your engagement in April. Go find out what over means."

I took a taxi to his building.

The doorman knew my name before I gave it.

Rafe opened his door in a gray shirt with the sleeves pushed up, a phone in his hand, and shoes already off.

He looked at my face and put the phone down.

"What happened?"

"Sierra gave me a drive."

"Is she safe?"

"She walked off in the rain. Rafe, I need to ask you something."

"Come in."

"No." I stayed on the mat. "Here."

He waited.

"You sat at table nine," I said. "You watched the whole video. Two hundred people laughed at me, and you saw every second."

He did not look away.

"Yes."

"You had a card in your pocket. You gave it to me at the valet stand, after. You could have stood up and stopped it."

"I could have."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I'd have been a stranger shouting at a family party," he said. "They would have thrown me out and told everyone I was your lover. Nobody would have believed you after that."

"That's your reason?"

"That's the true one." His jaw moved. "The other one is worse. I wanted to see what you would do when it landed. I wanted to know if you'd break."

"And?"

"You didn't. You took off the ring. I have not stopped thinking about it since."

I should have stayed angry.

I tried.

"You let me stand there alone."

"I did, and I'm sorry."

"Say it again."

"I'm sorry, Sylvie. I'm sorry I sat there."

My eyes stung, and I was furious about it.

"Good," I said. "Now stop me at the door, like you did in the elevator, and tell me about terms."

"Nothing until the Kingsburys are finished."

"They're finished."

"They have seventeen days."

"Then finished is a Tuesday," I said. "I'm declaring it. I'm the holder."

He laughed, one short, helpless breath.

Then he stopped laughing.

"Sylvie," he said, low. "If you cross this door, I won't be careful."

"Good."

I walked in past him.

He shut the door and I heard the lock turn.

I had my back against it before I knew I had moved.

He put one hand flat on the wood beside my head.

"Tell me what you want," he said.

"You."

"Be specific."

"I want your mouth, and your hands, and I want you to stop being polite."

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