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“Hm.”
“And no one will take her away.”
My smile is cruel. My voice low. “The thing is, I’ve already taken her from you. She is, by definition, away.”
His face turns red. “You think a big buffoon like you can have someone as fiery as Island?” Beady eyes narrow. “I know all about you, Clay Bolton. The soldier. The billionaire bully. Island didn’t evenwantto be around you. You forced your company on her. You didn’t even give her a choice.”
On the outside, I remain calm.
Inside, I flinch.
I cannot deny that Island and I had a rough start. But all that matters is how we end.
“You don’t know anything about her except that she’s ‘ethnic’ and hot. You think I don’t see right through you?” He shakes his head like a teacher tutting at a rowdy preschool student. “Island is worth more than being your arm candy or your way of passing the time before you find a woman with an old-money last name to mother your children. Maybe Island feels sorry for you. Maybe she’s given you a little attention. But that ends here. You have no chance. You’re done. So you can take your see-through T-shirt and go fling your money on someone who will gladly take cash in exchange for being your damsel in distress. Leave. Island. Alone.”
That was a mouthful.I fold my arms over my chest and stare him down.
He really wouldn’t take a punch well.
I tilt my head. “Since you were so madly in love, where were you the past eight months?”
His eyes widen.
“Where were you when this bully entered her life?” I taunt.
The bastard has no words.
Of course not.
He came crawling back to Island with sweet memories of the past. He messed with her mind and made their history a chain around her neck. He’s forcing her to hold on to someone who no longer deserves her.
That strategy can work on Island.
It can work on most women.
But we’re both men here, so it can’t work on me.
I can see right through him too.
“Do you know why our country would go to war for one person? Do you know why we’d send out troops to rescue just one citizen behind enemy lines?” I poke a finger in his shoulder. “It’s because we don’t turn our back on our own. But you? You puny son of a—”
He grabs my collar.
I smile at his attempt and wrench his hand off. Island’s clients are watching. It wouldn’t be right to beat him to a pulp in front of her salon.
I look down my nose at him. “You turned your back on Island.Youabandoned her. But I won’t. I won’t ever leave her behind.”
As I walk to my car, I hear Taz yell, “I’m not giving up! She’ll be my woman for life!”
A cold smile tilts my lips.
I guess we’ll see about that.
CHAPTER17
THE SILENT BATTLE
ISLAND