Page 57 of Point of No Return

I can’t fucking read her.

And the worst part is that I want to. Despite our families. Despite our pasts. Despite the fact that we’ve been doomed since the moment we met.

She’s still not talking to me by the time Friday rolls around. I’ve given her the space I think she wants, instead having breakfast in the guest room rather than joining her and Aleks in the dining room.

But ever since Thomson damned himself by ignoring my previous warning, she’s been cold- even in public. I sent a car to pick up Liv and have her meet us at the gala, and ever since they spied each other at the entrance of the dance floor, they’ve been joined at the hip. Charlotte has dodged my touch the few times I’ve reached for her hand or held her back. And she hasn’t so much as glanced my way.

It’s goddamn maddening.

I’m supposed to be focused on closing. On securing the Teams Consolidated deal and getting the hell out of dodge. But instead my mind keeps drifting to the woman across the floor. Dressed in red, delicate curls falling down her back, looking gorgeous as ever in a pair of black heels.

Liv looks beautiful in silver next to her, but she doesn’t even hold a flame to my wife. Charlotte is devastating. And when I look at her, I’m left considering what the cost would be of taking her home and starting a fight- or doing anything just to get a clue.

“Your father owns more of Prevya than all of its other shareholders combined. With rumors of the market crashing… Do you have plans for that?” Cameron is saying, drawing my attention away from the vixen in vermillion.

Right. The Teams Brothers.

“For sure. Would you mind giving me just a moment?” It’s not really a question, and I take full advantage of the lull in conversation, crossing the floor toward her before I can second-guess myself.

“-she’s not the kind of person to let that go,” Charlotte is saying to Liv but when I appear behind her, her back stiffens in awareness.

“Can I borrowmy wifefor a minute?” I ask Liv, but I look directly atherwhen I say it, watching her green eyes stand up to my challenge.

Liv clears her throat. “Um… Sure. Just… have her back at a decent time?” she teases, but the joke falls flat as I motion toward a hallway away from the crowded mass of people.

Charlotte thinly veils an eye roll as she twists on her heel, strolling in that direction ahead of me. I’ve been here a thousand times for events over the years, but the maze of rooms just outside the ballroom is unknown to me. Charlotte comes to a stop at a secluded area down the hall before turning.

“Yes?” she bites out, but I grip her arm and guide her through the door of a nearby room.

It’s dark inside, and it hardly registers that I should check whether or not anyone else is inside before I jam the door shut and push her up against it.

“What the hell is going on with you?” I ask her, watching the confusion, the anger, flash across her face as she presses back against the door- as far from me as possible.

“Me?” she whispers, her voice still shrill despite being quiet. “I’m terrific. I’m having a wonderful evening.”

“Don’t do that.”

“I’m not doinganything, Skar.” The breath is coming out of her in pants, and it’s so obvious that she’s pissed at me.

But why? Whyis what irks me.

“You’ve hardly looked my way all night. Don’t play games.”

She quirks a brow, looking up at me with all the confidence in the world. “You’re working. I already told you. I won’t be something for you to show off.”

So this is about the other night. “You’re mywife, Charlotte. Would you prefer I not touch you at all?”

She smirks, and I realize too late that this might just be entertainment for her. “That was an option this whole time?”

For fuck’s sake.

My hand presses into the wood beside her head, caging her in. “Whatever the hell this is, Charlie, it has to stop. So what do I need to do?”

She blinks at me. Surprise lights her features, and it’s so hard not to watch as her lips part- but no words come out.

As if she’s saying,wait, you’re asking me?

“If Thomson or Jamison are going to functions, I don’t want to go.”

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