Page 180 of Enthrall Ecstasy
Too perfect.
Something this wonderful can’t last.
I’d always been good at reading people. Now, as I replayed every interaction we’d shared, the truth hit me like a thousand jagged shards of reality.
Shay had done what he believed was best for me—even though it would be a financial disaster for him. I could never live with myself knowing he’d lost that land. He was stubborn like me. He’d never let me refuse his gift of paying off my contract.
I made my way back to the kitchen and found a piece of paper and a pen. Then I set about writing the letter that would sever our ties, my hand shaking as I explained the reason I was leaving.
We are just too different.
Forgive me.
—Rue.
It was over.
I felt like all the air had left the house as I walked toward the front door.
I headed outside to the waiting BMW.
When I opened the car door, Carrie’s rich perfume hit my nostrils. It triggered me, taking me back to the hellish days and nights I’d spent at Majestic.
“How did he take it?” she asked.
“I left a note.” I pulled on my seatbelt.
“Do you think he’ll come for you?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think so.”
Because that note would leave no doubt in his mind that we were done.
My chest tightened with grief.
It hurts to breathe.
“You deserve to be treated like a queen, Rue.”
“That’s how he treated me.”
I felt dazed and bewildered that something so perfect could be shattered so easily.
We drove away.
The growing distance felt like a lifetime of pain opening between us.
I could tell him all that was in my heart. But after this it would be too late.
Carrie navigated us onto the Pacific Coast Highway.
He was the first man I’d ever fallen in love with. We hardly knew each other, but you know…you just do.
Shay Gardner was all that was good in this world. What hurt the most was I’d failed to tell him that no man would ever come close to him.
“You okay?” said Carrie.
“You promise to return his money?” I asked sternly.
