Charlotte and Walter both tried to talk to me, but I didn’t want to listen to either of them. Even they had lied to me—the two people I thought I could trust with my very soul. They’d let me believe my father had loved me in the end, and it had only been a cruel, vicious withholding of truth. They’d watched as I made a ridiculous idiot of myself and it hurt.
And Kira… My heart stuttered in my chest. The very worst of all. I’d given over the whole of my heart to her—every last part—and all along, she had been lying to me too. What else was she lying about? What other things would she have me believe, hope for desperately, only to find out I’d been made the fool yet again? I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought back to that moment in my office when she’d told me she’d been lying to me from the beginning. It had felt like a knife plunging into my heart. The only thought going through my mind had been, Not you, anyone else, but please not you too.
I threw my wineglass against the fireplace in the living room, enjoying the sharp shattering sound of the glass. I braced my hands against it and then lay my forehead on the cool stone. Even still, weeks after she’d left, just the thought of Kira’s name brought a gut-deep, heartsick yearning and a throbbing emptiness.
She had told me she had nothing but disgust for Cooper Stratton. And then I’d seen her talking to him, standing close with her hands on his chest, trying to convince him of something. Coop she’d called him. I had recognized the guilty expression when I’d surprised them. Little lying manipulator.
Never again. Never again would I care whether or not someone loved me. I let ice harden over the part of myself that could still be hurt, hating that there was anything left at all. I knew how to do this. I had lived a frost-covered life for years, and I could do it again.
I needed to go to the courthouse and file for divorce, but frankly, I had no idea where Kira was to have her served, and I didn’t much want to leave the house anyway. I wasn’t going to take her father’s money and give him the satisfaction of having me under his thumb. No one was going to control me again, especially that bastard.
Finally, exhausted from the simple act of thinking, I fell onto the couch, not wanting to go to my bed tonight—not when it only brought memories of her. The scent of her. And yet I fell into sleep with the sound of her name on my lips.
* * *
It was a gray, dreary day in downtown Napa, made drearier by the fact that I had just pawned the ring I’d given Kira on our wedding day for some much-needed cash. I felt shamed and embarrassed. This was what I’d been reduced to—again. I had originally bought the ring for Vanessa, and yet handing it across the counter to the pawn shop owner had brought a sharp ache to my chest, not because of whom I had originally bought it for but for whom I had ended up giving it to.
I was driving through town on my way back to the vineyard when I spotted Kira’s car. I drew in a sharp breath, shock causing me to jerk the wheel. Kira was in Napa? Had she been here all along? Where would she have been staying? She had any number of choices in San Francisco, but here? My heart started drumming rapidly. I pulled my truck to the side of the road and hopped out. There were a couple boutiques on this block and a restaurant. I looked through the front windows of the two shops but didn’t see her. What are you doing, Grayson? What exactly do you think you’re going to say to her anyway? I had no idea and yet some sort of excited anticipation made my gut clench. She was here. I’d been devastated when she’d told me about her father, acted so harshly, but maybe…maybe if I just talked to her, maybe she’d help me understand. I didn’t give myself time to reconsider; I just acted.
The restaurant didn’t have a window, so I pulled the door open and walked inside to see if I could spot her, hope blooming in my heart. I saw her immediately, walking toward me.
Cooper Stratton was next to her, his hand possessively on her arm and she was smiling up at him.
The room felt as if it tilted under me and all I saw was red. She’d told me she didn’t want anything to do with Cooper. She’d lied. It appeared she was back with him. Just like that. I was right about her. That’s when she spotted me. A flicker of surprise, followed by a look of something I couldn’t identify flashed across her face. Wide-eyed, she looked at Cooper and then back to me.
I was gripped by overwhelming rage. My body closed the space between us before I’d even decided to move. “You didn’t waste any time, did you?” I gritted out. “Was this your plan all along? Marry me, get the money, somehow take it back, and then…him?” She had not only lied to me about her father’s involvement in my life, she’d lied to me about Cooper too. If she truly hated him the way she’d made me believe, she would never give him three minutes of her time, much less be lunching with him. Little fucking liar. Beautiful little liar. Agony ripped at my soul.
Kira took a step back, but not before I caught a whiff of her delicate scent. Sharp longing overwhelmed me, making me want to roar with anguish. She’s not yours. She never really was. She’ll never be again.
I don’t want you.
I don’t want you.
I don’t want you.
I don’t want you.
I don’t want you at all.
“Grayson, please, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice soft as she glanced around.
“Oh, I think I have every idea what I’m talking about.” I moved in again and leaned toward her ear, saying softly, “Tell me, Kira, have you opted to be one of his many whores or a trophy wife who turns a blind eye? If it’s the latter, you do realize you’ll have to divorce me first, right?”
I felt Kira startle at my words and draw in a sudden breath. Then Cooper was next to me, saying, “What the hell are you doing here?” and before he could try to get in the middle of Kira and me, I turned. My rage and pain—everything I had lost—bubbled to the surface, swirling in my chest in a tsunami of pain. I grabbed his shirt and walked him backward to the wall and slammed him into it. Kira screamed and I heard several people gasp loudly from the floor of the restaurant next to the lobby where we were having our showdown.
Cooper’s expression was pale, his eyes filled with fear as I pressed him against the wall. I expelled a loud whoosh of breath and let go of him. He almost fell forward but caught himself as I stepped away. Dread crashed through me as quickly as the anger had. Oh God, what am I doing? I glared into Cooper’s face which was simultaneously expressing rage and some type of barely tempered glee. He pointed his finger at me. “You’re going back to prison, you fucking loser.” He adjusted his shoulders and laughed, then turned to who I thought was probably the manager of the restaurant—standing there with a look of shock on his face—and said, “Get the names and numbers of everyone who witnessed that. My lawyer will be calling for it later.” Then he looked at Kira with satisfaction. “Let’s go.”
Tears were streaming down Kira’s face. “Let me talk to him for a minute,” she said to Cooper, her voice cracking.
Cooper frowned. “I can’t leave you alone with him. He’s obviously dangerous.”
I stepped toward him again, and Kira quickly moved in front of me, placing her hand on my chest. “We’re in public,” she said. “We’re fine. He’s my husband, Cooper.”