And it was all down to my stupid fucking pride.
As well as the realisation that this was it. I could lose Rachel. I had never really entertained that as a possibility. We were good together. Our chemistry was electrifying, and neither of us were able to stay away from the other for long. But this just proved to me that Rachel had options, and she would consider them.
Which meant there was a very real possibility that after this contract was over and done with, I would have to spend the rest of my life watching her play happy families with another man. And I don’t think I can do it.
I carried on walking, heading up the stairs to our bedroom and straight into the ensuite. I turned the taps on at the sink and ran my knuckles under the warm water, washing away the blood.
I was pissed at Vienna. I never expected to feel that way towards him. He was my brother, and I’d die for him. But I wanted to kill him. I wanted to rip his eyes out so he could never look at her again. I wanted to slice his hands off so he could never touch her.
How could I get past this?
“It meant nothing,” Rachel said, panting slightly as she caught up with me.
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I snapped at her.
“I’m not saying it to make you feel better. I’m saying it because it’s the truth. You can feel however you want to feel about it.”
I scoffed at her, reaching for the towel to dry off my hands, and then pushed past her into the bedroom.
“We were both drunk. I’m not even sure how it happened. It just did and I—”
“Kept it from me?” I interrupted.
“Yes,” she said simply.
“Why?” I demanded.
“Why what?”
“Why did you keep it from me?”
“Because—”
“Is it because you knew it would negate the contract?”
“What?” she breathed, her head snapping back in shock. “No. We kept it from you because we didn’t want to hurt you. The contract didn’t enter my mind.”
“Right. Because the way it seems to me, Rachel, is that you kept it because you knew it would mean I get full custody of the kids, and you would end up in prison. You had much more to lose by telling me the truth.”
“And if that’s what you want to do—if you want to hand the file over to the police, then do it. I’m not going to beg and plead you not to. But what sense would it make? Vienna doesn’t care whether or not I go to prison. He lives and dies for this club. He didn’t want to hurt you, and neither did I. It was a drunken mistake, and it was stopped before it went too far.”
“I—”
“You can think what you want of me, Dante. But if you don’t believe another word I say, then just believe that. Please. And I get it,” she said with a barking laugh. “I’m hardly in a position to ask you to listen and believe me when I have done nothing but fight you and refuse to listen for years. But I’m not having you leave this room thinking I secretly want Vienna and I deliberately deceived you.”
I sighed heavily. “So what is it you want from me?”
“I’m just asking for you to believe me.”
“I do,” I said, surprising us both.
“What?”
“I don’t think you secretly want Vienna. And I do think whatever happened between the two of you was a mistake, and the result of the complete shit show we’ve made of this relationship.”
“So where do we go from here?” she asked quietly, her head bowed, looking down at the floor.
“I need to ask you something, Rachel. And I want an honest answer. Do you want to be here? No more contract. Just you and the way you truly feel. Do you want to be here with me? Because this six months thing is bullshit. If you don’t know by now, then that’s our answer. We may as well cut it short and end things early.”
