"I'm ordering you to stop!"
Mr. Everford might've called me stupid to my face more times than I care for—
"I always knew you didn't deserve to be Sandy's wife!"
—but I'm starting to remember all those Sunday school lessons I had when I was a kid.
Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.
I don't know if he sees me as a friend or if he's just a billionaire who's taken an interest in me because he's bored.
"Do you know why he never let you work?"
I don't even know if he's my enemy with how he seems to enjoy drawing attention to all my bad points.
"Because I knew you'd just cause trouble for him!"
But it doesn't matter either way.
"So I told him to keep you out of sight!"
He told me the truth when everyone's been lying to me.
"And eventually, Sandy saw what I saw from the start!"
And for that, I will always think of him—
"He deserves a wife who doesn't have a slut for a mother!"
—as my friend.
Chapter Six
"YOUR MOTHER'S HAD ANaccident, Mr. Everford."
My back goes rigid. “Where is she now?”
“Operating room, sir.”
Chimney provides the details of my mother’s operation, and after asking him to keep me posted, I make the necessary calls to my staff. The sooner I’m back in London, the better. Once done, I head back to the balcony and frown when I find no sign of Nicole.
I check her room, but she’s not there either.
“Nicole?”
I check the other rooms, but they’re all empty. So are the en-suites. The powder room. I even check the study, but she’s not there either, and all the clue I have left is the front door she’s left halfway open...on her way out.
A muscle starts ticking in my jaw as I leave the suite. I can only think of one place—one person—that she’ll run back to, and of course it has to be her husband.
Thedouchebag.
I tell myself to just fucking let it go as I step inside the lift. But the more I think about how she’s already caught him cheating with her own eyes, and yet she’s still choosing to go back to him—
It’s while I’m still seeing red over this that the lift doors open, and a couple of executives in my company are about to step in. But then they take one look at my face, and they all suddenly start remembering something they forgot—anything to keep them from joining me in the lift.
The doors close, and I’m still alone.
Because she’s choosing the douchebag over me.