Like this was something one night’s sleep could fix.
Or that there was something to even talk about in the first place.
Lexy pushed herself off the door and crossed to the en-suite bathroom on unsteady legs. Closed that door too. Locked it too. Sank down onto the cold tile floor with her back against the bathtub and finally—finally—let herself fall apart.
The tears came in waves. Silent at first, then shaking, then ugly. The kind of crying she hadn’t done since...since, oh, it had been so long, she couldn’t even remember when was the last time she did. Or maybe she had never cried like this. Since she had never been hurt like this.
Lexy pressed her palms against her eyes as if she could push the tears back in.
It didn’t work.
Nothing worked.
Because even if Leonidas hadn’t technically lied, even if she had technically signed that amendment, even if everything he said was technically true—
It changed nothing.
Because of that phone call from three hours back.
“Mrs. Gazis?”
A woman’s voice. Accented. Unfamiliar.
“Yes?”
“I apologize for calling you like this. I know it must seem...”A shaky breath. “My name is Lydia. Lydia de Castro.”
Even now the memory made Lexy feel like her whole world was spinning.
“I am...I was your husband’s...”
She remembered trying to just breathe because she already knew.
“I’m sorry. This is harder than I thought it would be.”
Because she recognized the name, and so she knew, of course.
“I know I should not call you like this. It is inappropriate, and Leonidas—”
Oh, to hear that woman say her husband’s name...the mere memory of it had Lexy clutching her chest.
“He does not do inappropriate.”
Did he not? So what was having a mistress then?Superinappropriate?
“But I cannot help myself. Even though I knew this time would come one day, it still hurts, but even so...I want the best for him. And that is why I’m calling. Because he is a good man. For the six years we’ve been together, he was good to me. So very good in every way. And even though he never said it, I knew he loved me, and I loved him, but...”
Lexy remembered how the other woman’s breath had caught on what sounded like a sob, and she...she suddenly felt like she had no right to cry.
“But he said he owed it to you. Because he found out that you are the reason he could race again, and so he said he had to leave me. Because what you are doing for him, it can only be repaid one way. Be your slave for life.”
Lexy’s hand shook as she reached for the phone, and Shayla answered her call after just two rings.
“Lexy? Adriano just told me—”
“I need your help, Shayla. I want you to draft a contract for me. Please?”
“But Leon also had a new contract drafted. Are you saying nothing about it worked for you?”
