Felix had apologised for the situation a million times. He pleaded with her to talk to him, but she had no words of comfort to offer him. No platitudes. Instead, her insides had numbed. Almost the same as when Phil had passed. As if she’d coated them in a clear varnish. Nothing could get through. Nothing could touch her. Josh had called it self-preservation, and that’s just what she needed right now.
Thea had asked Felix to get dressed and drive her home. Reluctantly, he’d agreed and had Max make her another coffee. It turned out he didn’t know how to use the machine either.
Now, they were heading back to her reality. There’d be no fancy floating beds and beauty spas to distract her inTottenbridge. No irate ex-wives calling her names or making her feel worthless. To be fair, Felix had shut Adrienne down. Asked her to leave. But Thea was a fool to put herself in that position in the first place. She’d guessed there was some sort of history. For some reason, Felix was reluctant to talk about his ex, but he’d never mentioned she was a perfume-wielding psychopath with incredible cheekbones.
Thea’s gut roiled as she thought of the woman’s face, dripping with malice. What had Felix done to make her hate him so much? She took a breath, picking at her pale nail polish, not caring if the chips fell on the car’s upholstery.
“Felix.”
“Yes?” He turned his head towards her for a few seconds, the frown lines on his brow easing.
“I know you like to rock the strong, stern and very secretive persona, and we only just slept together. But considering the circumstances, with the kids involved, I think it’s time you clarified a couple of things.”
Felix gripped his bottom lip with his teeth and nodded. The harsh midday sun lit up his fair hair, giving him an ethereal glow that contrasted with his dour expression.
“What did your ex mean when she said you’d know how important it was for someone to have both parents together?”
Felix let out a ragged breath. “When my brother died, I was just a teenager. I’d always been an outsider. The accidental baby my parents didn’t want.”
“I’m sorry,” said Thea.
Felix shrugged. “It is what it is. But when Alex died, the trauma of losing their favourite son drove them apart. They split and often forgot about me. I was so lonely. I hardly saw them, but they made sure I learned about the business. Drove me hard. Then, when I was old enough, I took it on, just as they expected. But because of them, I swore that if I ever hadchildren, I’d move heaven and earth to have them grow up in a close and loving family.”
“So, Adrienne knows that?”
“And she never lets me forget it. Whenever she wants her way, she reminds me of the times we discussed it. The times I swore I’d never repeat my parent’s mistakes. Lucas is my world.”
“She can’t always have been that bad. I mean, you married her.”
“When we met, I was still fresh in the industry. My father had retired and left me with a board of ageing directors for advisors. I wanted to shake up the company. Build amazing hotels and world-class restaurants. Adrienne came along at just the right time. She was smart, glamourous, and successful. Not just a model, but a businesswoman in her own right.”
Thea swallowed down the lump in her throat. Intelligent, glamourousandsuccessful. Everything she wasn’t. She brought her fingers to her mouth, chewing on her nails.
“We made a great team. With her notoriety and my drive, we worked hard to build the business. When she fell pregnant, we were ecstatic.”
“But then?”
Felix sighed. “Soon after Lucas was born, I heard rumours about her taking lovers. I was busy. Had little time for her. Being married to me clipped her wings, and eventually, she flew away. We had some horrific fights. Blaming each other for everything that went wrong between us. We separated, and that’s when Lucas started acting out. It got worse as time went on. He feared his mother, and when he became distant, she blamed me. Eventually, she asked for a divorce, and I agreed.”
The gentle touch of the car air con made Thea shiver. Felix was confessing all. She’d expected a sketchy summary of his past, but this was more like being on the couch with Oprah. A warts and all exposé.
“Why does she want you to be together now? After all this time?”
Felix raised his eyebrows. “I think it’s about money. I doubt she even likes me. Just luxury and status. Her settlement was very generous, and she’s still on the company payroll, but she’s no longer modelling. Maybe she misses the prestige of being my wife. I don’t mean to sound conceited, but being rich opens doors.”
Thea scowled. “That’s awful. So she’s using your past against you? Your brother’s death, I mean.”
“When you put it like that, yes. And she knows my weakness.”
“Lucas,” Thea murmured.
“Mhm. There’s no way that she and I being together would do him any good. I’ve told her over and over again, but perhaps I haven’t been as insistent as I should have. Dealing with her is punishing. I think I lost the will to fight. I just buried my head in the sand. Until now.”
Felix’s last words hung in the air between them, and Thea’s heart skipped.
With a sigh, he slowed the car down and pulled onto a grass verge at the side of the road. They weren’t far from Tottenbridge now. As they came to a stop, Thea ground her teeth together.
Felix turned towards her, taking his sunglasses off and folding them in his lap. “I was serious back in the hotel.”
