“There’s no other explanation. I know it wasn’t any of my staff. They’ve been with me for years.”
“So. Was. Claudia,” I said in anisn’t it obvioustone. “Your ex? The woman who was hereyesterdayand did nearly the identical thing once before? Maybe you should go dump outherpurse and throw accusations inherface. One thing’s for sure—you won’t be seeing mine again.”
Understanding dawned in Jack’s eyes. It didn’t matter to me whether he understood or not. I’d come dangerously close to making the biggest mistake of my life.
There was nothing he could say now to make me stay, assuming he even wanted to.
Harrison spotted me in the foyer and rushed to intercept me before I reached the front door. His voice was filled with concern.
“Miss Hamelin, where are you going? Shall I call a driver for you?”
“Leave,” Jack barked at him. Apparently, he was still following me.
Harrison retreated immediately.
When I reached the front door and started to pull it open, Jack’s big hand came over my shoulder, flattening against the door and shutting it again.
“Bonnie… wait.”
I turned to look up into gorgeous aquamarine eyes I’d never see again.
Drinking in their beauty and sadness and sorrow one last time, I blinked away a new round of tears.
“I want you to know I never betrayed you,” I said, “and I never would have. Because I do love you. But Jack, Iwillget over it. A relationship has to be built on more than love and attraction and mind-blowing sex. There has to be trust, and clearly, we don’t have it. Good luck with your book.”
I turned and pulled open the door, walking out of Jack’s mansion—and his life—forever.
Chapter Twenty-Six
More Than Anything
Jack
I missed my deadline.
But get this, the publishing house that swore they’d never give me another extension— gave me another extension.Because of the pirated excerpt, believe it or not.
Turns out Claudia, in her nasty, last-ditch effort to hurt me, ended up helping.
The leaked chapters caused such a fan frenzy and flurry of pre-orders my publisher gave me a few more days to finish.
And I was close. Still no ending, but I’d already sent the first three quarters of the book to my editor Marina, and she loved it.
She wanted a few minimal revisions and was on standby, ready to read the final chapters as soon as I finished them so they could go off to the printer.
So now, other than knocking out those editing notes, all I had to do was come up with a brilliant, satisfying, fan-pleasing conclusion to a ten-book epic series loved by millions.
Easy peasy.
You’d think I’d be happy. I hadn’t been cut by my publishing house, my writing career wasn’t over, I wouldn’t have to go live in a van down by the river.
My life was intact and… safe.
But I wasn’t happy. Far from it. There was a hole in my life, infinitely larger than the one that had existed before Bonnie showed up. Now Iknewwhat I was missing.
A soulmate. And no one—no one—could ever replace her.
I tried focusing on the writing. It had always worked in the past, escape the cares of the real world by immersing myself in a fantastical world of my own creation.
