Chapter 25

“I can’t prove it,” Derek says with a loud curse. “I wrote things down but I didn’t take pictures or anything.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “This is a good start.”

“That’s funny,” Derek says, laughing a little. “That’s what he said, too.”

“Who?”

“Me,” Miles says from behind me, so suddenly and clearly that I nearly jump out of my skin. I wobble a little on my unsteady ankles. Miles is beside me in a flash. His hand sits comfortably in the small of my back, like it was made to be there. “Easy.”

My cheeks flush.

Derek smiles a little. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I hear Mr. Carver calling me…” He quickly ducks out of the stable.

“It’s not…!” I call after him, but he’s already gone. I finish, “…what you think.”

Miles gives me a mischievous look. “And what might he think this is, Esther?”

I ignore his teasing. Straightening, I inch slightly away from him. He makes no effort to follow me.

“Shouldn’t you be giving a speech or something?” I ask. “I heard Mr. Carver praising you.”

“A speech seemed unnecessary,” Miles says. “Mr. Carver was more than happy to sing my praises without me putting in the effort.”

“He likes his speeches,” I admit.

Miles hums. His teasing tone falls away, leaving disapproval behind. “I stopped by the medical tent only to see you traipsing yourself up a mountainside.”

Talk about dramatic. “It’s a hill.”

“You shouldn’t be walking on that ankle. I spoke with the medical staff.”

“I’m a grown woman,” I remind him. “I can take care of myself.”

Miles steps closer to me, removing the few inches I placed between us. “Then why do you keep acting like you need to be looked after?”

“I’m perfectly independent, thank you,” I say.

“Out of necessity, perhaps. Because you chose an ape for a husband. But not because you want to be.”

I inch back again, but this time, my back hits the closed door of one of the empty paddocks. Miles steps closer too, closing the distance even more than before. He leans on his arm against the door to my left while placing his hand flat to the wood on my right, boxing me in entirely.

“You can admit that you enjoy having someone take care of you,” Miles says. His gaze flits down to my lips. Instinctively, I lick them. “I already know the truth.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Oh? Do you need me to describe the way begged for my touch? When I spread your legs and put my tongue on –”

“That’s enough!” I gasp.

His smile turns devilish. “You like remembering, don’t you? I do. The way you writhed beneath me…” Leaning into me, he places his lips near my ear.

I shiver at the feel of his hot breath against my ear.

Immediately, I’m transported to that night, with my legs spread wide and Miles buried between them. He lapped at me with an incessant tongue, demanding and relentless. I clawed at the sheets. I screamed at the top of my lungs. I tried to buck, the pleasure almost too much, but he held me down and made sure that I was satisfied.

That I was taken care of.

It’s too much: the memory, his closeness, the way I want him still…

Amber’s warning rushes through my mind.

He will never want you.

I place my hands on Miles’s chest and push him back. He moves at once, without much force. He would never pressure me, and knowing that hurts even worse.

With the new distance between us, I turn for him and make my way outside. Only surrounded by the cool fresh air could I breathe again.

Miles waits a moment before he joins me.

For a long moment, we don’t say anything. We just stand side by side, looking out at the crowd gathered in the courtyard of the clubhouse. Amber’s there, searching around, presumably for Miles. Among the people, I also spot Garnar and Thea. They are dancing, like they don’t have a care in the world.

It doesn’t hurt me worse to see them like that. Instead, I just feel numb.

I feel like I’m in some kind of dream that I can’t wake up from. Or that I’m living someone else’s life, and nothing is really happening to me.

Ten years ago, I thought Garnar was my soulmate. I was the world’s biggest fool.

I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself for my stupidity.

“Asshole,” Miles grumbles. “He’s the worst fucker in the universe.”

Glancing at Miles, I see him glaring in the same direction I was looking in just a moment before. He could be speaking about any number of people in such close proximity, but I have no doubt that he’s actually talking about Garnar.

“How can he be so damned blasé about his affair,” Miles spits. “Not to mention that you nearly died today. Has he checked on you once?”

“No.”

“No,” Miles repeats. “Instead he’s been giving all of his attention to the trophy on his arm, like she’s some prize.”

“She is,” I say. “She’s my father’s real daughter.”

“His birth daughter,” Miles corrects. “That’s not the same as real.”

I appreciate the sentiment of Miles’s words, but he doesn’t know the inner workings of my family or what Garnar perceives as valuable.

It’s too much to explain here, today, to a man I hardly know except for the feel of his body and the touch of his hands and tongue.

“You need to divorce him,” Miles says sternly.

“It’s not as easy as all that,” I say.

Miles looks at me sharply. “Why not?”

I give him a sad look of my own. I remember what it was like to be 25, so idealistic about the world and my future. To someone that young, everything seems so simple. Without appropriate life experience, it’s easy to be selfish. To not see the potential collateral damage.

Miles doesn’t have children, so he has no perception of the very real fear of losing mine.

Even if I try to explain it…

With a sigh, I realize I should at least try. I’m casting Miles with a heavy brush, bunching him together with others who he might not be like. Miles is his own person. He deserves his own chances to prove himself a worthy ally.

“I have two daughters. Iris and Violet. They’re so smart, and quick as can be. Talented too. Iris loves to paint.” I lower my gaze. “If I leave Garnar without a plan, he could drag me to court and, with all of his status and prestige, convince the court I’m an unfit mother. I could lose everything…”

Miles stays quiet for a long moment. When I glance up at him, I see him mulling over my words.

“Do you understand now?” I ask. “Why this isn’t so simple? Why I can’t just up and walk away? There’s far too much at stake. I can’t lose my little girls.”

Miles presses his mouth hard together. “He truly is the worst kind of villain, trying to take your own children from you.”

I can’t argue with that, so I stay quiet.

Miles frowns a moment more, then he collects himself. When he looks at me again, it’s with confidence in his eyes. He’s made some kind of decision, I can sense it.

Then he says, proud, “I’ll help you.”