“You protected your control. Your power. Your wealth. Your name. Not us. The Morrils came in? So what? You’re always going to have enemies when you have the money you have. You could have given up the lust for power and image. You could have, as you said, committed to fulfilling your real debt and being vulnerable, but a threat appeared, and what did you do? You didn’t choose me. You didn’t even choose yourself. You chose to play the game.”
“I didn’t choose you? Or me?” Adrian said, raising his voice. Well, so much for walking back on anything; so much for keeping the temperature down. “What the fuck are you even talking about, Delilah?”
“I’m just another piece in your game to destroy the Morrils and gain more power. It might be a piece you care more about, but it’s still a piece.”
“Don’t you get it!” he all but shouted. “Don’t you understand? If I don’t do what I do, then you’re at risk, Delilah. I will not lose you. I will not lose my brothers. I will not lose who I care about ever again, even if that means taking drastic measures.”
I will not lose who I care about ever again.
Virgil.
It was all coming to me at once. As soon as anything he was involved with got threatened, it brought him back to Virgil. I almost said as much—almost.
But even in the heat of this moment, even in the worst argument we’d ever shared, I knew invoking Virgil’s name was a death knell to not just any future relationship, but any civility whatsoever. There was a time and place for it… should we get past this.
Not here. Not now.
“You’re not a man that’s going to change, I can see that now,” I said. It was an awkward pivot from what was screaming in my mind, yes, but as long as talked around the subject and not about it, we’d just end up repeating the same old shit. It was up to Adrian to speak to the vulnerable, weak point within him. “I cannot and will not be with a man who sees me as an asset on the ledger, as a game to be won. If you ever want totrulytalk, if you ever want totrulysee me, then you know where to find me. But if you come, Adrian? Don’t come to find me. Find the realme.And make sure you bring yourself, not the King of Diamonds.”
It was as strongly worded as I could be without saying, “And look into why any threat of losing control actually goes back to the loss of your little brother.”
Adrian shook his head. He wasn’t going to leave this conference room. Fine. I would be the one to walk away.
I stood up, headed for the door, and nodded toward the exit. He did not move. So be it; he could handle the social weirdness if anyone else walked in.
I opened my mouth, as if to give one final piece of advice, but I really had said all that I could. Anything deeper was crossing into the line of no return; anything the same or less shallow would just be cycling through the same old.
I walked out, feeling a cold mixture of despair, defiance, sadness, and surprise. Yes, I had not lost myself. Yes, I had stood up to Adrian Vale as it became clear that he would not be a changed man.
But was it really that clear?
And who had I really told to fuck off until they got better? The King of Diamonds?
Or Adrian?
CHAPTER 23
Adrian
Not even an hour had passed, and I had retreated back to my penthouse, a place where only three other people would dare speak to me.
I told myself it was fine. I told myself that I would find another woman, and that I would not let myself get sucked into some stupid game like I had with Delilah. I told?—
“I’m just another piece in your game.”
I had no idea why I kept replaying her words in my head. It wasn’t like I needed her. I didn’t need anyone. Need?
I laughed out loud, feeling a brief moment of discomfort when no one and nothing echoed my laugh, and then gazed back down on the Strip. Yeah, maybe tonight would suck. Maybe I’d need this evening to have some booze, realize how low I’d sunk, and move on. But then?—
“You’re not a man who’s going to change.”
Of all the fucking words.
Of all the fucking words Delilah had said, that particular line stabbed me in a more gruesome place than any knife wound ever would have. I was a man who would not change? How did she think the King of Diamonds got to the power he had so far?
You fucking idiot. She’s not here to make love to the King of Diamonds. She’s here to make love to you, Adrian Vale.
Or she was here, at least.
