“It’s not that easy,” I say to my mom over the phone. “I tried to tell her with my vows, and I think I spooked her.”
“So, talk to her,” Mom insists. “I’ve never been married, but one of the most important things in a relationship is having open communication.”
Fuck, she’s right. I need to talk to her.
We hang up, and since Brielle just left, I get in my car to follow her. She always goes to the coffee shop, so I’m not surprised to find her there. Only, before I can get out to join her, she’s walking out with her coffee in hand and heading to her car like she’s in a rush.
She’s also not dressed in her usual workout gear.
She takes off down the street, and since I’m a nosy bastard, I follow her. She flies through the streets in her cherry-red Porsche, not stopping until she arrives at … the Humane Society?
She gets out, drinks the last of her coffee, tosses it in the trash, and then walks inside. Since she clearly didn’t want me to know what she was doing, I drive away, letting her do her thing.
I have nothing else going on, so I head to the office to get some work done. When there’s nothing else to do, I go to the country club to get lunch, where I find Lorenzo sitting at the bar with a whiskey in his hand.
“A little early to be drinking?” I say lightly, sliding onto the seat next to him.
“Getting drunk is the only way to survive living with that bitch.” He swallows the rest of his drink in one go and gestures for the bartender to bring him another.
I order a drink as well as a chicken Cobb salad and then glance at Lorenzo. “You okay?”
We don’t know each other, but anyone can see how defeated the guy is.
“Leo is barely three months old, and I don’t know how I’m going to spend the next several years with this woman. She’s driving me fucking nuts.”
“I’m assuming Leo is your son?”
“Yeah.” The bartender sets our drinks down, and he takes a sip of his. “Leonardo Sparks. She didn’t even give him my last name, yet she’s acting like she’s in love with me. Says she wants to be a family. She’s up to something. She has to be. She always is.”
“Well, while you figure it out, at least you have your son under your roof, and once you find out the game she’s playing, you can plan your next move. Have you told Dominick and Matteo yet?”
Lorenzo shakes his head. “Not yet. They’ll want toremoveher from the situation, and maybe it makes me soft, but I don’t really want to kill the mother of my child, even if she’s a conniving bitch.”
He sighs. “I’ve always tried to do the right thing. Be a good guy. My dad taught me to be respectful to women. Even though my mom wasn’t his first choice as a partner, he was always good to her. But Iswear to God, if I find out this bitch is fucking with me, I’m going to make her regret showing up on my doorstep.”
“Nah.” I shake my head as the bartender places my salad in front of me. “You won’t make her regret showing up because, without her doing so, you wouldn’t have known you had a son. You’ll make her regret not handing him over to you and walking away.”
I glance at Lorenzo, and he nods in agreement.
“Let me find out she’s fucking with me, and I’ll make sure she regrets ever coming to Harbor Point to begin with.”
After lunch,I go home, and the house is quiet. After getting a workout in and swimming a few laps in the pool, I heat up dinner, but Brielle says she’s busy, so I save her some and eat alone, wondering if this is how our marriage is going to be.
And this continues every day for the next week. When she’s home, she pretends I don’t exist. She refuses to eat the leftovers I save her, and when she leaves, she doesn’t say where she’s going, and she no longer hangs out at the coffee shop so I can’t corner her there.
The following Sunday, since I have nothing else going on, I follow her to the coffee shop, hoping to put an end to this bullshit. I get she’s upset that I forced her to marry me, but we both know she still wants me. She might glare daggers at me to my face, but when she thinks I’m not looking, I see the lust and longing in her eyes.
Like last Sunday, when I pull up, she’s already got her coffee in hand, heading back to her car. And like last Sunday, when I follow her, we end up at the Humane Society. But instead of driving away, I park and follow her inside, only to be stopped by her standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Daniil said you were following me. Why?”
Shit, I forgot about her guard. At least that means he’s doing his job.
“Why are you here?” I ask, ignoring her question.
“Brielle!” an elderly woman says, coming around the desk. “I missed you last week.”
“How was your trip to visit your kids?” Brielle asks, giving the woman a hug.
