She let out a laugh. “Why? My parents don’t like each other and it worked.”
And look how it shaped you…
“They can go to boarding schools, then they won’t see us together often.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to send my children away or let them be born into a miserable marriage.”
Cressida huffed and stalked away, grabbing the champagne bottle. She drank straight from it, then hissed. “Don’t act as if you’d care about children or anyone. You’re not kind. And neither am I that’s why we’re a good fit.”
A match made in hell. “I’m not kind, you’re right. But if I have kids, I want them in my life.”
She bared her teeth in condescension. “You think you’d be a good father? They’d hate you for cheating on their mother.”
“I won’t cheat on the mother of my children, but it won’t be you.” I didn’t say anything about her masseur. I was fairly sure she had an affair with him. There was no proof and she’d probably deny it. It was irrelevant anyway. I’d told her to seek a lover and she’d followed my advice.
Realization settled on her face. “There’s someone else.”
“I told you before.”
“There were several women you fucked, do you think I cared or remembered?”
I hadn’t been intimate with anyone but Greta since our first encounter on her farm. “There’s one woman.”
She let out a shrill laugh, her face turning red. “Is she the reason why you haven’t slept with me in forever?”
I didn’t say anything. I had a feeling discussing Greta with Cressida would only make me mad.
She clutched the champagne bottle in front of her chest. “You were faithful to your affair but not your wife?”
I pressed my lips together. Anything I said now would make things worse. I’d said everything I wanted. I wouldn’t waste my breath on more. She regarded me like a scientist a bug he was trying to dissect. “It’s the girl from the wedding, isn’t it? The Falcone girl. The way you looked at her… I thought I’d imagined it. I didn’t, did I?”
I didn’t say anything.
“Do you think you love her?” She laughed. “You aren’t capable of it.”
“Cressida, there’s nothing to say anymore. We’ll get divorced and both find happiness elsewhere. I won’t add more mistakes to my life because of a single mistake from my past. This ends now.”
She let out an enraged cry and threw the Champagne bottle my way. It exploded against the edge of the marble side table, throwing an expensive Tiffany lamp to the ground, which broke apart, and breaking the edge off the marble table.
I swallowed trying to rein in my own anger. I’d sworn myself I’d deal with this calmly. “You can keep this house. It’s always been yours. Once the divorce papers are signed, you’ll get the fifty millionsmillion.”
I turned on my heel and walked into the lobby. It wouldn’t do any good to prolong this conversation. If Cressida had some time to think about my offer, she’d see it was the best solution. She was an attractive woman. She’d find a new husband.
She staggered after me and reached for a crystal vase from another expensive sideboard in the lobby. “You think you can buy me off with lousy fifty million?”
“How about seventy million, will this make your obvious heartbreak more bearable?” I gritted out.
Her eyes widened and she threw the vase in my direction. It smashed before my feet. I had enough. I stalked toward her and backed her into the wall. “That’s enough. Eighty million. That’s my last offer and you better take it.”
Her eyes burned with loathing. “I hope you’ll die.”
I gave her a harsh smile. “Many have tried.” I stepped back and walked out. I knew this wasn’t over. Cressida would call her father right away and he’d try to gather the Traditionalist around himself to force me to reconsider my decision, which wasn’t going to happen. I would divorce Cressida and marry the woman I really loved. The woman I’d be faithful to for the rest of my life.
When I left the townhouse, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I turned the music up as I steered my car toward my family’s home. Telling Cressida of my plans had been only the first step of many, the first of many difficult confrontations. Now I had to tell Dad, though maybe Antonaci was speaking to him right now.
The last and most difficult hurdle to overcome would be Remo Falcone.