Page 117 of In Love and Revenge

I roll my eyes at how dense he’s being. ‘I’m saying I have a problem with this.’ I throw my hands out. ‘With you being a dickhead and saying arseholey things. With you thinking you can buy companies because someone you don’t like works there. And then give them to me, and what? Expect me to flutter my eyelashes and say thank you? Maybe even suck you off in your fancy-arse car because I’m so grateful?’

‘That’s not what I—’

‘It is, though. You say I’m being a brat. That I’m being ungrateful. But I didn’t ask you for any of this, Rafael.’

‘Then what do you bloody want?’ he hisses.

I look back into his wild eyes, the molten bronze flecks in them rippling like flames, ready to burn if you get too close. This is him. A man I’ll never truly understand. Because he doesn’t let anyone get close to him. Not really. He tells me he wants me. And the way he touches me makes me believe there’s something real there. Something worth holding on to and fighting for.

But when it comes to it, we’re too different.

I don’t need revenge like Rafael. I just want the truth and my father back.

My shoulders sag. ‘I don’t want this. Whateverthisis. I’m sorry.’

‘Beauty,’ Rafael rasps, his tone turning from angry to pleading.

‘Don’t call me that. Please. Whatever this was between you and me, it’s done. I don’t want to sneak around behind my best friend’s back with her brother, for God’s sake.’ I rub at my temples, the threat of a headache making my brain fog. ‘And I’m not going to play into any of your weird little power games. Keep the company yourself. Or sell it again. I really don’t give a toss.’

I throw the door open before he can argue back and jump out of the car, closing it behind me.

‘Aurora?’ His deep voice booms as he flies out behind me and rushes on to the pavement.

‘Leave me alone,’ I call over my shoulder as I march away, tears bubbling in my eyes even though it was always destined to come to this. He’s Dove’s brother. We never used to even like one another. ‘I swear to God, Rafael, if you follow me, I’ll scream for help,’ I threaten, knowing it’s the one thing that might stop him. Because we can’t do this. We never should have in the first place.

His low, muttered curse echoes off the buildings behind me as I turn the corner and leave him in my past.

Chapter 30

Rafael

Another sheet of paper receives my wrath. Crumpling it into a ball inside my fist, I fire it across the room, gritting my teeth as it lands alongside a growing pile of identical ones beside the overflowing bin.

‘Should I call Greenpeace and tell them why deforestation has increased tenfold?’

‘Very funny,’ I huff, as Gabe leans against my office doorway. Benedict stands beside him like a furry little henchman, here to witness my demise.

‘Who is she?’ His lips curve into a knowing smile that I’d like to wipe off his face.

‘Who said it’s a woman?’

He lifts one shoulder and drops it. ‘What else can it be? You don’t sweat this much even when one of our biggest accounts is on the line.’

If only he knew how wrong he is.

He bends and scoops up a ball of paper, unscrewing it. His face falls as he reads it. ‘Brother?’ he groans. ‘Seriously?’ He screws the paper back into a ball and tosses it into the bin. ‘Does Dove know?’

‘Not yet,’ I grumble.

‘Tell her before she finds out another way.’

‘I was going to this afternoon ... with Aurora,’ I say.

Just the sound of her name makes my chest hurt. I rub at the centre of it and Gabe looks at me in concern.

‘You oka—’

‘I’m fine,’ I grit out before he can make a big deal out of nothing. ‘Just a little indigestion.’