“I met Morgan at Monica’s summer party in our Hamptons house.”
Romeo reclined on the other end of my rug, rotating the simple wedding band on his finger. He never took it off. Not once since we’d exchanged vows.
I always assumed he sought the perks of his good-boy reputation. Not what was right in front of me—Romeo Costa was loyal to a fault.
“She was the au pair for a couple across the street. A charming Midwestern ballerina. Blonde, beautiful, bewitching. She attended Juilliard on a full ride and had a dimpled smile and impeccable manners. And she was great with kids. Very endearing.”
He picked up his tumbler, twirling the tawny liquid. Specks of gold shimmered inside it. He studied them with a deep frown.
“I was twenty-one. She was nineteen. I was rich. She was…not. It didn’t matter to me then. It doesn’t matter to me now. But as soon as Senior caught me looking her way, he informed me blue blood doesn’t mix well with that of mere mortals. ‘Treat her like the ocean, Son. A few dips won’t hurt—but don’t go in too deep.’ I ignored him. And what started as giving her rides after she clocked out for the day quickly escalated to sex in my back seat, skinny-dipping in the ocean, and talking from night till morning until our mouths dried.”
Jealousy clasped my gut in its tight fist, twisting it painfully.
This unattainable, larger-than-life creature who’d strode into a ballroom months ago, able to have his pick of every available girl at the event, had boyishly courted an ordinary girl.
One whose daddy didn’t own a key American company and whose last name didn’t open doors.
He sipped his drink, still staring at the wall. “By the time summer ended, it was clear Morgan and I weren’t a seasonal fling. She quit Juilliard to move in with me while I finished my degree. A move Senior had anticipated. He claimed women of her pedigree could never stand toe to toe with men like us. That Morgan was too blinded by my fortune to be my equal. I refused to take love tips from a man who notoriously cheated on my mother my entire life.” The flex of his jaw told me he regretted not listening to the advice. “At any rate, Morgan moved in with me, and Senior fumed.”
I knew where this was going. I tucked my legs under my butt, gulping down whisky to calm my nerves.
“Morgan slipped effortlessly into a life of luxury. While I attended classes, she shopped, got her hair done, worked out, and stepped into the role of a trophy wife. Only we weren’t married yet. Not even engaged. And that was a problem for her.”
A wry smirk touched his lips as though he remembered something particularly unpleasant.
“She waited until I graduated before she told me she expected me to propose.”
“You were so young.”
He shot me a glance. “Still older than you are today.”
I knew in that moment he regretted taking me against my will. Which, sadly, only made my stomach churn further.
I couldn’t imagine losing him, even if he was never truly mine.
“I was born to be a wife and a mother.” I crawled to him, skimming his knuckles. Although he didn’t pull away, he also didn’t lace his fingers through mine as I wished. “I know it sounds old-fashioned and small-world. But we cannot help the things we desire. Please, carry on.”
He worked his jaw, palming it in his free hand. “I was ready to propose. I knew I loved her, flaws be damned. God knows I had my own. When I notified him of my intentions, Senior blew a gasket. He informed me he wanted me to marry. But on his terms. Someone he could flaunt. A woman with an influential last name who would bring her own fortune to the table and make us even richer.”
A woman like me.
I knew I was never my husband’s choice. That I was convenient because I once belonged to Madison and wielded acceptable lineage, but the reminder sliced through me with a blade so sharp, I could feel the burn on my skin.
“Senior told me it was time to face reality. He even suggested I pick up with her again after marrying a suitable girl. I believe his words were—everyone does it, Sonny. Monogamy is an upper-class creation to oppress the middle class. We needn’t adhere to it. Monica, herself, came from a very wealthy family. Her parents footed the bill whenever Costa Industries needed outside capital. To Senior, a marriage that didn’t include a business contract was utterly pointless.”
I withdrew from his knuckles. “But you didn’t listen to him.”
“I bought Morgan a ring. I was twenty-two; she was twenty. I didn’t want to buy the engagement ring off my parents’ credit card. It seemed wrong, considering they both opposed the union. Monica less adamantly—she always saw Morgan as a gold digger but let me live my life. So, I bought the ring with whatever money I had saved up from my TA gig.”
That couldn’t had been much.
A hunch Romeo confirmed by tipping back his tumbler, polishing off the rest of his drink.
“I presented Morgan with a ten-thousand-dollar ring. She was livid.”
A gasp bunkered in my throat. “Did she say no?”
Romeo chuckled. “Oh, no. She said yes. But she also said other things—how I didn’t truly love her because the engagement ring was an embarrassment compared to those of her new rich friends. That she couldn’t be seen with it at her country club. She complained I wasn’t serious enough. That she quit Juilliard for me. Put her entire life on hold.”
“Did you ask her to do all that?”
“Not once. Then again, I was young and thoughtless. I happily accepted her sacrifices without considering she’d demand a reward for each.”
I dug my nails into my palms, nodding for him to continue.
“Around that time, Licht Holdings entered the game as a serious competitor. Morgan and I patched things up. I took her on vacation to the Bahamas. When we returned, I started working for Costa Industries while applying for my Masters.
“My first year at Costa Industries seemed to balm the strain in our relationship. I earned real money and aged into my trust, which meant she spent a lot more. I’d take her to weekly dinners with my parents, hoping she’d win their hearts. Monica thawed, but Senior remained unwavering. At the same time, he always flirted with her at the dinner table. I hadn’t thought much of it. Almost three decades separated them. Not to mention, she was my fiancée.”
I winced, bracing for the worst.
“Things unraveled when I started my Masters while employed full-time at Costa Industries. I spent little time with Morgan, which she resented. She began hanging out with Madison’s crew. The rich Georgians who flooded Potomac seemingly overnight. She liked them. They found the place boring and made frequent trips to New York. She joined them often. I didn’t mind, since I couldn’t give her the time she required. Back then, Madison and I were friendly.”
Did Morgan cheat on him with Senior and Madison?
Romeo stole my whisky, bringing it to his mouth. “By the time I finished my Masters, Morgan and I were little more than roommates who occasionally had sex. My love for her turned into obligation. I could tell she begrudged me for being obsessively laser-focused on my career. But I had a goal.”
“To take down Costa Industries?”
If Morgan’s affair hadn’t triggered his revenge quest, what did?
“Yes.” He didn’t elaborate. “I can’t deny being an inattentive fiancé, but I was also reliable, faithful, and gave her every penny I had. So, when we drifted apart, I doubted whether the marriage could work. Still, Morgan always lured me back into her web. I felt guilty enough for ripping her from her previous existence to see it through.
“The day of my first promotion, Senior called me into his office and informed me he’d selected prospective brides for me. That if I didn’t break things off with Morgan, he’d do it for me. We had a nasty argument, but I thought nothing of it. Days passed, then weeks. One day, Cara, who routinely bought groceries for us, called. I was on my way to Zach’s. I’d been hanging out with him and Oliver more often, since home felt like anything but. Cara urged me to head to my penthouse. Said there was something there I should see. And there was.”
The storm brewing in his gray eyes swept me into emotional turmoil.
“I found my father eating out my fiancée, who wore nothing but a pair of heels for him. He didn’t even stop when I walked in. Just stared me right in the eye and told me that was what happened when you chose a working-class girl instead of a classy, workable girl. She’d always choose money over you.” He paused while I fought the urge to throw up. “And he was right. All it took for her to spread her legs for him, to do this to me—to my mother, who fed her every Sunday at her house—was a black card and an empty promise he’d divorce for her.”
“Oh, Romeo.” I cupped my mouth.
I understood his mocking approach to marriage now. He’d hardly seen a good example. His parents were miserable together, and his one and only girlfriend cheated on him in the most despicable way.
He returned my drink. “Spare your tears for someone who deserves them. Power is a great substitute for love. And I have plenty of it. Life is much easier once you accept the fact that everyone will hurt you.”
I held the whisky to my chest, my heart hammering against the glass. He was right, but he’d also missed the most important part.
Everyone will hurt you. The key to happiness is finding someone worth enduring the pain.
“After I threw Morgan out to roam the streets naked, I watched Senior tuck himself in and realized he was right all along. The working-class fiancée. The ability to get away with absolutely anything if you possessed enough influence. I could’ve beaten him to a pulp. I have experience in that field, after all.”
He leaned against the bed base. “But revenge is a dish served cold. And I’d already enacted plans to ruin the thing he loved most—his business. That would be my moment of reckoning. This, and killing the Costa dynasty with my last breath. After all, Senior always planned on having more children to ensure a line of succession. Didn’t work out so great.”
A bitter smile found its way to Romeo’s lips. “So, I’ve played the long game. Garnered control and clout to use against him. I agreed Morgan was a mistake. Sat down with him for a drink. And vowed to give him what he wanted in due time—a filthy rich bride of high ranking.”
Siring an heir for Romeo meant giving in to his father’s wishes.
I hugged the glass so tight, its edge left a mark on my skin. “You had a drink with your father immediately after you discovered him sleeping with your fiancée?”
“Indeed, I did.”
“This is sick.”
Romeo shrugged. “Love doesn’t exist. Marriage is a means to an end. My only regret is dragging someone else down this grim path of mine. Before I met you, it was easy to write you off as an upper-class version of Morgan. A ditzy woman who didn’t mind whom she married, so long as her quality of life remained unsullied. I didn’t think you’d care if I stole you from Madison. In that aspect, I’m no better than your father.”
I regarded him with fresh misery.
He turned away, not wanting to see what was smeared on my face.
“Why do you hate Madison so much? What was his role in this?”
Romeo worked his jaw again. I noticed he wasn’t chewing gum and realized he felt uncomfortable without it.
“After she realized my father had tricked her, Morgan tried crawling back into my good graces. Didn’t happen, obviously. She’d leave me hourly voice messages. Long ones. Begging me to take her back. She knew my tidiness didn’t allow me to overlook the red alert on my phone. In one of her ramblings, she mentioned something about how she ‘didn’t even tell Madison anything that could come back to hurt me.’ The moron essentially outed herself. I found out Madison paid her the last six months of our relationship to collect intel against Costa Industries through me. And that was why I finally exiled her somewhere she couldn’t hurt me.”
That sounded like the Madison I’d grown to know and dislike in Potomac.
It also sounded like my ex-fiancé was the first to initiate this war between them. The hatred burned with a never-ending flame.
“What did he find out?” I swallowed hard, dreading the answer.
Romeo’s eyes met mine, dead and cold. “Not much he could work with but plenty to embarrass me. Morgan never cared about my business. Never wanted to know much about it. So, in order to cut a nice check for herself, she resorted to telling him my secrets. My fears. My…complex childhood.” His nostrils flared. A faraway look curtained his face. “She did something far uglier than giving him trade secrets. She told him my weaknesses and how to use them.”
“Where is she now?” Part of me didn’t want to know. I was liable to make the trip and strangle her myself.
“Norway.” His lazy tenor told me not to ask any more questions regarding the why and the how. “Working a retail job and keeping her nose out of my business. She is not doing brilliantly. Still single. She spent the money Madison gave her within weeks of our breakup, so no sound investments were made, either.”
“Do you think you’ll ever see her again?”
He shook his head. “She is dead to me, and she knows it.”
“Then, there’s no reason for her to remain there. You need to let her come back to America.”
“No.”
“Yes. You can hate someone for all the right reasons and still wrong them. Revenge is the act of stooping as low as the person who hurt you.”
He stared at me miserably. “Loathing you was so much easier when I thought you were silly.”
Silence blanketed the room.
Surprisingly, I didn’t have many questions to ask. Only one, really.
Everything else was crystal clear. His motivations. His desires.
“This all happened years ago,” I pointed out. “Why did you take me as a wife just now?”
“A few reasons.” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear absentmindedly. “First, I’m now the CFO of Costa Industries, within reach of CEO. Senior is seriously ill and will step down any day now. And you and Madison only recently made the engagement official to the general public. I was unaware of your existence until the week we met. Plus, for the longest time, I couldn’t tolerate the idea of having a woman by my side, even as decoration. Time dulled the anger, but it did not cloud the memory.”
I pulled away from him. “That all women are the same?”
He shook his head. “No, my precious Shortbread. That once broken, a heart can never mend. Function—yes. But you cannot repair something that is already in pieces.”
I didn’t agree with him. Then again, my heart had never been broken. Although, currently, it felt like it treaded dangerously close to this territory.
“So, now you know.” He collected our glasses, standing. “Why I hated seeing you parade yourself in front of Senior. Why he touched you to make a point to me—that you were fair game, too. Why I’ll never have children.”
He left no room for negotiation.
No room for thought.
I studied him from my spot on the rug, realizing he’d given me exactly what I wanted—the truth—and that it didn’t get me any closer to defrosting his heart.
If anything, the mission seemed more impossible than ever.
“I will never love you, Dallas Costa. For that, I am truly sorry. Because you are certainly worthy of love.”
