Page 129 of You Saw the Best In Me

About a week ago, a letter arrived in the mail for her. At first, she refused to open it, but eventually, the curiosity got the best of her.

As soon as she recognized the handwriting, she tried to back out, but I offered to read it aloud, and she agreed.

It was hard to get through for both of us, but it finally offered Karina an explanation and closure on the biggest gut-twisting betrayal either of us had ever seen.

I took her onto the patio, ensuring she was comfortable, and took the plunge.

Dear Karrie,

I can’t explain how sorry I am for what I’ve done to you. If it’s any consolation, I lost everything. My life is in shambles, and I’m lost without my family. Once I confessed my role in your unfortunate situation, my husband cut ties, protecting his career. Now, that has left me all alone to reflect on my choices, and I behaved terribly but treated you even worse.

I have no excuse for what I’ve done, but I thought I was helping you in my own twisted mind. If you could just accept your fate with a man you chose to lay down with, you could’ve had a normal life.

I see now that he wasn’t in your best intentions – that’d be Maverick. That man loves you the way you deserve, and although you want nothing to do with me, I’m leaving you everything I have left so you can build a future with him. One you deserve. Make your dreams come true, baby.

Xoxo - Mom

We sat in silence for a long time, neither of us able to find the right words to explain how we felt. It was a whirlwind of a letter with so many condescending undertones that it can’t be taken seriously.

Karina initially wanted to burn the check, along with the letter, but I tried to reason with her a bit without being too pushy.

“Baby girl, let this be her way of making it up to you. You can’t hate her forever, it’ll consume you. Take the check, and let her go for good,” I convinced her, and she deposited the check into a savings account for when the opportunity to better her life presented itself.

Finally, I decided what to do with the land Tony sold me, and I let Adam and Hunter have it for our next project.

It was a test of loyalty and leadership because I was promoted to Adam’s position a week later. He and Juliette are traveling the world, and I’m now the boss of the job sites.

Hunter still runs the office side of things, and today was my first official day in my new role.

A few guys who’d been there since they started the company were pissed, but Hunter told everyone who didn’t like his decision to quit.

Nobody did, and it’ll be a while before I earn their respect, but I’m here to work, not make friends. That hasn’t changed.

Hunter and Willow invited Karina, Harper, and me to a celebratory dinner tonight. I hear Willow can’t cook for shit like Karina, so I’m a little nervous.

“How do I look?” Karina steps out of the bathroom in a long, baby-blue sundress and white heels.

Fuck.

I’m getting hard just looking at her.

The bruises have faded, and her smile is entirely captivating.

“Fucking perfect, kitten,” I kiss her neck, ready to throw her on the bed.

“Thank you, Angel,” she bites her lip, looking me up and down.

“That suit should be a crime,” she smirks, pulling me by my tie.

I kiss her hard, wrapping my hands around her ass and slapping it to drive her wild.

“Tonight, the only thing you’re wearing is this tie. Understand?” I growl in her ear, and she melts in my arms.

“Yes, Mav,” she whispers, her knees going weak.

Her new tattoo is on full display, a little piece she got to remind herself of what she survived.

It starts on her shoulder, expanding down her arm, a beautiful phoenix rising from ashes. She got a small quote, “It was mine first,” and two tiny numbers interwoven throughout.