Page 134 of An Inevitable Marriage
“You’re no daughter of mine.”
The line went dead.
Through the heavy silence, I heard my heart break. Felt the million tiny shards shred through my ribs. It hurt. It hurt so freaking bad I could hardly get air into my lungs.
I had no idea how long I sat there holding on to the pain ripping my body in two. At some point, my phone fell to my lap, and it was the insistent buzzing of it that finally snapped me back to the present.
Hope my mom understood immediately blossomed inside my chest. I swiped my screen to life and couldn’t stop disappointment from washing over me.
Until I saw my sister’s name.
And the four unread messages from her.
Cece:Mom and I had a massive fight. Huge. Call me when you get this.
The first one was time-stamped the previous night. Guilt churned my insides. I’d been having my world rocked multiple times while my sister needed me. My throat felt thick and heavy. My eyes stung.
Blinking away a fresh batch of tears, I moved on to the rest of her messages.
Cece:HOLY SHIT, EVIE!
Cece:Why didn’t you tell me?
The following message was a link.
Fingers trembling, I clicked on it.
UNLOVEABLE NOUVELLE FEMME CEO RESORTS TO DESPERATE MEASURES TO KEEP COMPANY.
I wished I’d stopped reading after the big, bold headline.
If I had, I wouldn’t have known that the reporter thoroughly threw Liam’s skeletons out of the closet. Or that he compared me to the women Liam used to see. The man literally called me ahooker.
Not even a high-class one, he’d written.Because at least they have the decency not to act like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum when they don’t get their way.
He’d interviewed Fiona, who’d happily informed him of the stapler incident. Weirdly enough, my former boss refused to comment, only stating that he’d lost a good employee.
Compared to the rest of the article, his words weren’t nearly enough to redeem me.
I felt sick.
The more I read, the more my stomach churned. Bile rose up my throat, and it was all I could do not to throw up. Because shit, this guy had serious issues with me. He called me every name he could think of, making me out to be this horrible person who’d do anything to make a quick buck.
He was nasty and mean. But…was he wrong? Really wrong?
Liamhadpaid me to be there. And we’d done things, intimate things, which we probably never would have done if it wasn’t for our situation.
“Oh my gosh.” I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep the choking sob from escaping.
I was no different than those women Anthony spent his time with.
Chapter thirty-seven
Liam
“Snow.Whatthehellhappened?”
Rushing into the room, I dropped to my haunches in front of Snow. At the sight of tears running down her cheeks, an invisible hand reached inside my chest and squeezed the air from my lungs.
