Page 91 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Watching the blur of traffic outside my window, I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

The hell it doesn’t,” he barks back at me. “I’ve been so fucking angry at you. At myself because you just left and—” Lifting a hand off the steering wheel, he swipes it over his face. “I deserve to know, Kait. I deserve to know why you left me.”

“Your mother isn’t the bad guy in this. I am.” Still looking out the window, I realize he’s not taking me home. He’s taking me back to the hotel. “I’d already decided I was going to leave before she showed up.”

“Why?” It’s not the answer he expected. I can hear it in his voice. He expected me to tell him that his mother forced me out somehow. That she threatened me or maybe blackmailed me into leaving. I could tell him that. I could tell him that his mother showed up, divorce papers in hand, and forced me to sign them but that’s not what happened. That’s not what she did. All Astrid did was tell me the truth. Give me the tools I needed to set Went free.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, shall we? This was never going to work. Sooner or later, he’ll tire of playing white knight and Wentworth will recognize the mistake he made in marrying you but by then, the damage will already be done.

“It was never going to work.” I shake my head, my voice barely more than a whisper.

“How the fuck do you know?” He barks it out on a harsh laugh. “You never gave us a chance—you never gavemea chance.”

“You’d given me enough...” Forcing myself to look at him, I feel my chest start to splinter and crack. My lungs shrivel and dry. “We were playing chicken, you and me, and I knew you’d never flinch. Never step out of the way, no matter how much you wanted to, because that’s not who you are. You made me a promise and I knew you’d never break it. No matter how much you regretted making it, I knew?—”

Shooting me a quick look, Went shakes his head. “Did youwantto leave me?”

For a second, all I can do is stare at him because it’s a stupid question isn’t it? Of course I didn’t want to leave him. Walking away from our marriage was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and my biggest regret.

“No.” I say it quietly so my voice doesn’t crack. “I didn’t want to leave you.”

“Okay.” Looking away from me, Went nods his head. “That’s all I needed to know.”

FIFTY-ONE

WENTWORTH

Don’t fuck this up.

That’s what Silver whispered in my ear on her way out the door.

Don’t fuck this up.

By now she’s figured out that I’m not taking her home, so she doesn’t say anything when I pull into the portico in front of the Hawthorne. “There’s something I want to show you,” I tell her before she can start protesting. “If you still want to go home afterward, I’ll take you—okay?”

She gives me a choppy nod, just as one of the valets opens her door to help her out of the car. “Okay.”

More relieved than I have a right to be, I open my own door and hand my ride over to the attendant before meeting her on the sidewalk. Taking her hand in mine, I lead Kait into the hotel and to the front desk.

“Hey, Nat,” I say to the young woman behind the counter. “I need you to send a bellhop up to my sister’s penthouse and have them move my mother’s things.”

When I say it, Nat’s eyes go wide but she doesn’t argue. “Yes, sir…” Making a quick note in her computer, she looks up at mebefore her gaze strays to Kait. If she recognizes her as the woman who camped out in the lobby on New Year’s, waiting for me, she doesn’t let on. Looking back at me, Nat gives me a polite, professional smile. “Where would you like them moved to?” Looking at her screen, she gives her keyboard a few more taps. “The presidential suite is avail?—”

“A standard room is fine.” Imagining the fit Astrid is going to throw when she finds out almost makes me laugh. “And while you’re at it, suspend her fingerprints in the system until further notice.”

“Oh shit…” Nat mutters under her breath before giving me a curt nod. “Yes, sir. Will that be all?”

“For now.” Tightening my grip on Kait’s hand, I pull her away from the front desk to cross the lobby.

“That wasn’t necessary,” Kait says in a low tone while she hurries along beside me. “You didn’t have to?—”

“Yes, it was and yes, I did,” I tell her. “The hierarchy has shifted. The sooner Astrid realizes that the better.” Stopping in front of the koi pond, I lift a hand and point at an enormous, bright orange fish with a single, blood red spot on his back. “That’s Buck, my pet fish.”

“I remember...” Running her free hand over the koi fish tattooed into my forearm, Kait offers me a brief smile that cracks the moment it shows itself. “Went, I?—”

“This isn’t what I wanted to show you.” Pulling her away from the pond, I lead her under the waterfall that splashes into it and conceals the private elevator that leads to my penthouse. “Put your thumb on the screen.”

Kait hesitates, but only for a second before she does what I ask. As soon as the screen reads her print, the elevator doors slide open, she looks at me. “I never had your prints removed from the system,” I tell her quietly. “I wanted you to be able to come back if you changed your mind.” Giving her hand asqueeze, I pull her into the waiting elevator. Leaning away from her, I jab my thumb against the button marked with a letter P. “This isn’t what I want to show you either.”

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