Page 97 of Almost Paradise

“You’re so disgusting, Paradise,” she says right before she shoves my chest and moves away.

“Will you stop with that disgusting shit?” I rub the bridge of my nose, suddenly feeling a headache coming on.

“She’s tainted this office.” She looks around and waves at the couch. “Did she ever sit on that?”

“Yes, baby girl,” I sigh.

“Did you two ever—”

“No, baby. Never in here. Come on. We agreed to let the past go. I really need to feel you against me right now. Please.” She comes into my open arms, and I wrap them around her. I pull her close and close my eyes. “I love you.”

I really need to hear the words back from her right now because if my instincts are correct, this day is only going to get worse.

“I love you too.” She looks up and puckers her lips. I lean down and kiss my wife. “But you’re sleeping in the living room tonight. You’re also getting rid of that couch and disinfecting anything else she’s touched in here.”

I close my eyes and rest my chin on top of her head. “The only place I’m sleeping tonight is next to my wife. I’ll sleep on the couch if you sleep there with me. Now, I’m going to have your driver take you and Carter home.”

“I thought we were going home together,” she says against my lips. “I’ll leave you alone to work in the home office.”

“I’ll be home as soon as I can.” She looks into my eyes as if she’s expecting me to say more. I never turn down an opportunity for us to go home together, so I know she knows something is wrong. “Do you trust me?” She nods. “Then know that there’s something I need to do. Something I need to figure out, but I’ll tell you about it as soon as I get home.”

“Okay,” she says. “But don’t be home too late. I’ll prepare the couch for you.”

“I’d rather you take off all your clothes, get in our bed, and spread your legs for me. I’ll settle for you spreading your ass cheeks too, but don’t waste any energy on the couch.”

“Being disgusting has consequences,” she taunts.

“Esther, see if you can reschedule my meeting. I’m taking off for the day. And this is yours if you want it.” I hand her the diamond ring.

She gasps and quickly snatches it from me. “Are you proposing? I’m older than your mother, but—”

I grin when I see the playfulness in her eyes. She already has the ring on her middle finger and she’s holding it up to the light.

“Don’t let my wife hear that,” I tease. “And please arrange a deep cleaning for my office and have the couch replaced immediately.”

When I return to my office, Wyatt is waiting for me. He’s leaning against the wall now, watching me. He knows me as well as my closest family member. He knows something is brewing.

Instead of addressing Wyatt, I pick up my office phone. “Bertram, I need you to find out where Howard Banks is, and I need you to take me to him now. Have the car outside in fifteen minutes.” I end the call.

“Are you going to tell me what is going on? Esther called me and told me to get in here pronto. What the hell did I walk in on?”

While I scan my email, my phone buzzes, and it’s Scarlett. I hit decline.

“She threatened Nia and Carter,” I tell him. He sighs and rubs his hand over his face. “But before that, she said something about my father.”

That gets him to stand straighter. “Like what?”

“She said a couple of things. The first is that I wasn’t supposed to find out. Then she said something about her and my father, but she shut up before she could finish her thought.”

“Oh, shit,” is all Wyatt says.

“I swear to God, Wyatt, Howard better have some answers for me. I will have no issues putting my hands on him.”

“What questions?” Wyatt asks. “What are you thinking?”

“The night that I told Scarlett that it was over and that I married Nia, she said something then too, but I was too focused on ending it for it to register. She said that she lost me the first time because of Nia. How would she have known anything about her?” Wyatt’s eyebrows practically shoot to his hairline. “No one other than my father knew. But he kept me in Berlin for almost a year, and in that time, Scarlett visited three times. Each time on the family jet.”

“You don’t think—”

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