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Prologue
LAWTON HARVEY
Ambling through the foyer of my house, the sound of glass shattering had me slowing my stride. With the amount of armed guards stationed outside of my estate, the person responsible for the chaos couldn’t be an assailant. Beside myself, the only soul who had the capabilities of coming and going at their leisure was the woman whom I had spent the past six years in a relationship with. Muffled rants of rage and the sounds of sniffling greeted me the instant I stepped into the living room.
Standing in the middle of the room was her, with her back to me in the pink silk robe I had gifted her last year when we went to Vail for Christmas. An empty bottle of Shiraz sat on the only piece of furniture that she hadn’t damaged. Her hair was disheveled and all over her head. The longer I stood there watching, the more I realized how violently her body trembled.
She’s hurting.
Instead of making my presence known, I chose to stand stoic by the door and away from the mess that was being made. My stillness was mainly out of fear that she would halt herdestruction of some of my most expensive items and divert it toward me.
Almost instantly she felt me, that fact being known when she did a full spin and pointed the Louisville slugger in my direction. Her brows dipped in confusion as I stared at her passively. Unsure of what her next move was, I carefully slid out of my coat and tossed it on the mangled Italian leather sofa. This was the end and I guess to make herself feel better, she decided to leave me with a parting gift. I wouldn’t object. After all, I was inadvertently the cause of her pain and suffering.
“And you’re just going to stand there?” she scoffed, having realized that I wouldn’t give her the reaction she was seeking.
“Would you prefer if I called the police and have you thrown in jail for vandalism?” I countered, knowing my words had the potential to send her spiraling.
Dahlia was batting me and instead of giving her what she wanted, I chose to take the nonchalant route.
“Six years Law,” she huffed. “Sixlongyears.” The long came out with an exasperated sigh. She was tired, this much I knew to be true; tired of something that she willingly stayed in after knowingmy views on the situation wouldn’t falter.
“Six years Dahlia that you didn’t have to stick around for. I’ve given you several chances to leave. Offered to buy you a house wherever you wanted. Hell, I even offered to upgrade your Range. I gave you the option of comfortability because I knew we didn’t share the same desires,” I expounded. “Youthought you could make me have a change of heart. I was never untruthful. I gave you monogamy for six verylongyears, even after making it painstakingly clear that it wasn’t something I desired. So, my question to you is why now?”
“Why now?” she scoffed. “Are you that fucked up in the head that you can’t see the damage you’ve caused?”
“Damage I’ve caused?” I repeated. Clearly, we had two different experiences in this relationship. Pressing my palms together firmly, I stepped over the glass and walked closer to her. “When we first got together, what did I tell you Dah?” Instead of responding, she hung her head in shame. “Dahlia, what did I tell you?” I quizzed again.
“You really don’t care, do you?” she asked, looking defeated.
“You know I care. Me not bending to your will doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. I love you and my actions have always aligned to express just how much,” I admitted, trying to sound as genuine as possible. After all, I did love her, just not in the manner that she wanted.
“I should’ve listened,” she murmured to herself. “When they told me, you wouldn’t commit to me… I should’ve listened. I stayed and prayed that somewhere in that tattered heart of yours, something would have connected. Silly of me, huh?” she chuckled bitterly, swiping away the snot that had seeped out of her nose.
Holding my hands out with my palms up, I waited for her to receive the hug I was desperately trying to give her.
Nibbling on her bottom lip, her head shook vehemently. She didn’t want me to touch her, and I wouldn’t. “Was I not enough?” she finally wailed.
“It’s not you Dahlia,” I admitted. Guilt plagued my heart when realization hit me like a ton of bricks. This was the end. All the conversations where she would sit up and beg for more and I repeatedly denied her of such ran through my mind.
“You are so arrogant, Lawton Harvey. And I pray you’ll run across a woman that makes you fall madly in love with her. I hope the same woman brings you to your knees. I don’t wish ill on anyone, but Lawton, I hope you reap what you sow.”
Maybe I had broken her.
My intentions with Dahlia were always clear and concise, I made sure of that. Somewhere along the way, herdesires changed. We had a plan; a plan that she had long defaulted on. I knewthat and instead of ending things with her, I sat by and waited for her to make the first move.
While trying to prevent breaking her heart, I left the decision making up to her and it’s come down to this very moment. “I’m sorry that you feel that way, Dah. If this is the end for you, I can’t do anything but respect it.”
“You damn right!” she spat. “I would say I’m sorry about your house but I would be lying.”
“What do you need from me to make this transaction run smoothly?”
“It’s always business with you,” she scoffed. “I’m not an acquisition, Lawton Harvey. I’m a person… a person with feelings.” Her shoulders dropped with a sigh. “In other words, I don’tneedanything from you. As far as my things go, I trust you to have them delivered to my condo.”
“I can handle that,” I nodded.
“I was good to you. For you. You couldn’t see it, or maybe you did and just didn’t give a fuck.”
“You want marriage and kids, Dahlia. Neither of those things I desire to have.”