Seeing it hurt me.
But seeing the two of them together like that?Thatmade me see red all over again.
“Stop,” I said, hurrying after them before the penthouse door could shut in my face. “I just told you, we’re leaving. Are you listening to me, Roman? You can’t have him. He isn’t yours. I take it all back!”
My voice had gone up by half an octave without my permission, and I knew my desperation was starting to show, but I didn’t know what else to do. It felt like my life, my Isaac, my whole carefully crafted world, was suddenly slipping through my perfectly manicured fingers, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.
And they were leaving me.
Leaving me behind.
On my own.
I slammed the penthouse door closed behind me, leaning against it for good measure. “We need to leave,” I said again, addressing Isaac directly this time. “Sweetie, it’s time to go. You and me.”
I held out my hand, hating the way it trembled.
That was just adrenaline, though. Roman had meangry. I knew Isaac would do the right thing, though.
He’d choose me.
Had had to.
Roman rested his hand on the small of Isaac’s back. “You’re both free to go, if that’s what you really want to do,” he said in that maddeningly calm voice of his. “And if that’s what you decide after we’ve talked this over, Diva, I won’t try to stop you. But I think there’s another reason why you followed me in here.”
I gasped in outrage. Thenerve.
“Youcarriedme up here, you bastard! Where else was I supposed to go? You’re basically holding us hostage right now.” I raised my voice. “Help! Security! Help!”
“Diva,” Roman said, not even flinching. “Enough.”
Enough? Fuck enough.
“You kidnapped my boyfriend,” I hissed, pushing away from the door and advancing on him with claws extended. “You stole him.”
Isaac stepped in front of Roman.
Finally.
“That’s right. Come on, honey,” I said, relief crashing through me so hard my knees felt weak. “Let’s go.”
Isaac shook his head. “Diva,please. Just listen to Daddy for a second. He… he knows about everything now. About us. I told him that we lied. That we’re not really boyfriends. He knows it’s all… fake.”
The last word was nothing more than a miserable-sounding whisper, but I couldn’t help flinching anyway.
Fake.
And yeah, I was the one who had used that word first with Isaac, so turnabout was fair play, but I wasn’t sure all of my feelings really were fake. Everything else about me might have been—my hair, my lashes, my nails, my hips, Mel B., Mel C.—but my feelings for Isaac?
Even if I couldn’t be the boyfriend he needed, those weren’tfake.
I loved him.
Wasn’t that why I’d been willing to find him what he needed? A daddy who could be everything I couldn’t?
But notthisDaddy. This one had made him cry. This one… this one…argh.
Roman just wasn’t the right one. It was why I couldn’t let Isaac go. Not yet. Not like this.
