Page 129 of Late Nights & Love Lines
“Unfortunately, not a damn thing. But if I can’t take credit for crumbling your empire, I’ll take great pleasure in knowing it happened because of your fuckbuddy. Coleman.” The pricksnaps his fingers. “Our deal is still on the table for twenty-four hours.”
“You’re done,” I promise Nick with lethal venom coating each word. “All of you. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Remember what I said, Rowan.” Jesus, Haley’s voice is grating, and I hate the reaction it stirs in Rowan. “It’s all up to you how things will play out for him in the end.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about, but if I don’t get out of here soon, I might break something or someone, so I do the only thing I can. I scoop up Rowan and storm out of this fucked-up charity gala—consequences be damned.
The car pulls up quickly, and I usher Rowan out the back of the event hotel. She’s quiet on the ride back to where we’re staying, and she’s pushed herself into the corner, pressed up against the door as if she can’t create enough space between us.
She’s running, and I don’t know how to help her.
In our suite, she excuses herself to the restroom, and moments later, the shower turns on.
Removing my bow tie, I let it hang off my shoulders and text Beck.
Me:We have a problem.
Beck:I saw.
Beck:(video sent)
Fuck me.
Someone recorded us in the hallway. From this angle, it appears Rowan is in the middle of a circle with me, Nick, and Coleman surrounding her as she attempts to explain her relationship with Coleman.
Devastation is written all over her face.
I don’t bother reading the headlines. It’ll all be lies anyway.
Me:How did you get this?
Beck:I have notifications to ping me anytime Coleman is mentioned in the press. Rowan was just caught in the crossfire.
Beck:Alexei’s working on damage control, but…
He doesn’t have to say it. We both know he’s about to rip into me because if we lose Coleman, we’re fucked.
The phone rings in my hand.
“Yeah,” I answer.
“How is she?” Beck asks with a heavy sigh.
“She’s showering. I don’t even know what the fuck happened.”
“There were rumors,” he says. His unease crosses through the phone and into my body.
“What rumors?” My chest heaves with the need for oxygen.
“Jacob never wanted to take over Coleman Enterprises. From what I heard through the grapevine, he went off the grid, completely away from his family for a couple of years. He built a life with someone in upstate New York where he went to college, and then, out of nowhere, he got married to someone else and became a VP in his father’s company. He went nose-to-nose with his father for weeks, accusing him of blackmail, but the news died out faster than it started. Before stories could spiral, he was married with a kid, who may or may not be his, and was left stewing in a high-rise office.”
The bathroom door opens, and Rowan stands there, wrapped in a towel with steam rushing past her.
I hang up on Beck without so much as a goodbye.
“She told me she was pregnant.” Rowan’s voice is flat, devoid of any emotion at all, and it hurts me more to see her this way than it did to find my wife with my best friend.
“They’d been having an affair for about four months, but the vendetta Haley had against me began the day she moved into my father’s house.”
