“He’s legit,” Darius said.
With another huff she opened the door. Her son started squirming, and Melanie set him down.
“Hey, cutie,” Sara said, picking up a ball. As an elementary school teacher, she had just the right tone of voice. “Do you want to play catch?”
Her husband Ezreal slid to the floor, and she rolled the ball to him. He held it up to the toddler with an expectant look, and the little boy hurried over.
“They’ll keep him entertained,” Darius said. “We need to talk.”
“Fine.” Melanie strode from the room, saying, “But I thought this was over.”
“How can it be over when you’ve ruined my life?” he asked, following her.
“Oh,right.” Melanie stepped into the kitchen and spun around. “I’m supposed to believe that the billionaire’s life is ruined. Poor baby.”
Darius studied her for a second. He hadn’t expected bitterness fromher. Had she found that her life wasn’t what she’d expected of it? Or maybe she wished now that she’d married the man who would become a billionaire after all.
Over the years, he’d given it a lot of thought. Darius believed that in the beginning Melanie had believed herself in love with him. Then she’d met her husband, and he fit her family’s expectations. She’d have the life she’d known with plenty of time spent in the limelight. She’d always been about status and must have decided a congressman a better deal than a teacher.
“There’s more to life than money, Mel.”
He meant the words, but he could tell from the face she pulled that she didn’t believe it. She faced him with a very sixteen-year-old expression, one hip pushed out, her arms crossed in a familiar pouty way that he used to find amusing. The past eight years had made him into a very different person, but she didn’t look that much changed.
“Wow, that was a near miss,” he muttered, not meaning to say the words loud enough for her to hear.
“And what do you mean by that?” she asked, her eyes flashing.
Darius had no wish to hurt her and chose his words carefully.
“I think you made the right decision. It looks like you’ve got a lovely family.”
“I do.” Melanie’s expression softened, and her posture relaxed.
“I have a favor to ask.” Darius raised his hand when she opened her mouth to argue. “Let me speak first. Eight years ago, you asked me to take on the public humiliation of walking out on you so you could marry somebody else. You said, and I quote: If you love me, you’ll do this.”
She shifted uncomfortably. There was so much more that he wanted to say, things about how she must’ve been cheating on him for months, about how she’d played him emotionally. But he was fighting for something more important than his ego.
“I did as you asked, and I’ve been silent all this time. But I’ve met someone I want to marry, and she needs to hear that I only walked out because you asked me to.”
“No.” Melanie put her hands to her cheeks. “We can’t trust that she won’t say something. You know what the press would do with information like that.”
“She was engaged once and her fiancé left her at the altar. It broke her heart.”
Melanie had the good grace to drop her hands and look sick.
“I need to tell her the truth about you and me. She wouldn’t have any reason to say anything to anyone else.”
For the first time, her expression turned conflicted. She was shaking her head, but she was also wringing her hands.
“She’s been through something really traumatic recently, a near-death experience, and it happenedrightafter she found out about me. You were kind of clueless about how much you hurt me, Mel. Don’t you think I deserve something for what you put me through? All I need to do is add one person to our confidence.Just one.”
A squeal came from the living room, and Melanie hurried away. Darius followed. Her son was looking sleepy and rubbing his eyes. She swept him into her arms and started cuddling him.
“I’ll think about it,” she said, turning to face Darius. “But I have to check with my husband.”
“This is important to me.”
She nodded. It seemed to be a sign that they were finished, and his friends rose. Melanie opened the door for them, and Darius was the last one to leave.
