She turned to Tripp, her heart splintering.“I can’t do this right now.I need time.I need to breathe.”Despite all that she’d said about not letting his mother get between them, she couldn’t imagine Tripp being ripped away from everything that mattered to him.Even though he loved her now, would he come to regret giving up his family for her?
His grip on her hand tightened; she could see the fear in his eyes.“Don’t let her win again.Please, Nicole.”
Her voice cracked.“I’m sorry.I love you.But I can’t.I need some time.”
She pulled her hand free and turned to her parents.“We’re leaving.”
They rose quickly, her mother dabbing at her eyes, her father silent, grim.Nicole didn’t look back at Tripp because if she did, she wouldn’t be able to walk away.
The car ride was suffocating.Nicole drove, tears streaming unchecked down her face.Her father couldn’t drive any longer, and her mother, she feared, would not have found her way to the Masterson’s home.But now she just wanted to get away from them.
“How could you?”she whispered at last, her voice raw.“How could you take their money?How could you let them erase my marriage?My life?”
Chapter23
The door shut behind Nicole with a hollow thud that seemed to echo through his chest.He stood rooted in his mother’s immaculate living room, staring at the space where she’d been only moments ago, his hand still tingling from where she’d pulled free.
She was gone.
Gone because of Suzanne.Because of the truth that had finally clawed its way into the light.And it was so damn ugly.
Slowly, Tripp turned.His mother was smoothing her blouse, her diamond earrings catching the lamplight, her expression composed, though the faint gleam in her eyes betrayed satisfaction.
“Well,” she said, her voice cool as ice.“I suppose that settles it.She finally saw sense.Marianne is coming for dinner tonight.”
Rage surged up his spine.“Sense?”His voice was low, shaking with the effort to contain it.“You call destroying our marriage, fabricating lies, paying her parents to lie to her, sense?”
Suzanne’s gaze was steady, her chin lifting.“I call it necessity.You were children.You would have ruined each other.Now, go get changed.Marianne should be here within the next hour.”
“We loved each other,” Tripp ground out.“We were married.Do you understand that?Married.And you erased it.”
“Corrected it,” Suzanne said crisply.“The annulment was the only solution.And I’d do it again.”
His hands curled into fists.For years, he’d swallowed this woman’s toxin, convinced himself she only wanted what was best.But tonight, watching Nicole’s face shatter under the weight of Suzanne’s cruelty, something in him had snapped for good.
“You disgust me,” he said, his voice raw.
Suzanne blinked, momentarily startled.“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”He stepped closer, his height towering over her.“I’m done.You’ve interfered in my life for the last time.You stole twenty years from me, and tonight you drove away the only woman I’ve ever loved.I won’t give you another chance to destroy what’s left.”
Her composure wavered, just slightly.“You’re overwrought.Sit down.We’ll discuss this rationally in the morning.But tonight, Marianne will be here to have dinner with you.I arranged it all.”
She never gave up.Not even after he’d told her he did not want to have anything to do with the woman.
“No,” Tripp snapped.“There is no morning.Not with you.Not anymore.”
Her mouth opened, but he cut her off, his words spilling hot and unrelenting.“You’ve controlled everything, my choices, my relationships, my future.Even now, you think you can dictate who I love, who I build my life with.But I’m finished being your pawn.If you want to keep living in this mausoleum of control, do it alone.Because I’m walking out that door, and I won’t be back.”
Her eyes narrowed, sharp with disbelief.“Don’t be dramatic, Dustin.You have responsibilities.The practice?—”
“The practice?”His laugh was bitter.“If you want to sell it, do it.If you want to burn it to the ground, burn it.It’s yours.I’m not tethered to it anymore.Or to you.”
“You can’t mean that,” Suzanne said, her voice faltering for the first time.
“I mean every damn word.”
He turned, striding toward the hallway.His mother followed, her heels clicking on the marble.“Where are you going?”
