Page 72 of The Husband Contract

I hang up the phone and head back into the hotel room. I’m pissed. I can hear Willow sobbing in the bathroom. I genuinely feel like shit. Obviously, some part of her feelings were real.

I bang on the bathroom door. "Hey."

"Yes?"

"It’s Sebastian."

"What do you want?" she cries out.

"Is everything okay?"

"What the hell do you think, jackass?"

I take a deep breath and open the door. She’s sitting on the toilet, her eyes blotchy, her hair a mess. My heart feels for her.

"I’m sorry that this is taking you by surprise, but?—"

"Oh, shut up. You are not sorry. I’m sure you don’t even care."

"Contrary to what you believe, I do have a heart."

"Yeah, okay. You have such a big heart that you married me even though you didn’t love me. You seduced me. You made me feel like I was special. You made me feel like all my dreams were coming true, and yet this is just another nightmare in my life. Why did I expect anything different? Nothing good ever happens to me. I just can’t win."

Something in her words—something in her tone—makes me pause. There’s genuine heartache there. There’s genuine fear and loneliness.

"I guess you didn’t expect that you would get caught," I say.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

She jumps up and steps into the shower. I see her take a couple of breaths and shake her head.

"You know what? I don’t give a fuck. Fuck you, Sebastian Laurence. Fuck you, and fuck Sergio, and fuck whatever games you all are playing."

I’m surprised by her shift in attitude. I’m surprised by the glint in her eyes.

"What? You want me to get in there and fuck you senseless? Is that what you’re trying to say?"

"You wish. You’re never going to touch me again, jackass."

"You’re my wife."

"And you’re my husband. So what? It means nothing."

"You don’t want me?” I stare at her, and she laughs bitterly.

"What I want and what you can have are two different things. I may want your body physically, but I don’t want you.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“I’ll play along with your game because I love Katherine and Brielle. But us? This? It’s done. You’re not going to break me, Sebastian Laurence. You could never break me.”

I press my lips together at her words. “You sure sounds like…”

"I sure sound like what?" she cuts me off. "Did you think I was just going to sit here and cry forever and beg you to give me another chance? Did you think I was going to ask you to love me? Ask you to make love to me? See if we can make this all right?"

Her eyes narrow.

"One thing that I’ve learned in my life is that you’ve got to roll with the punches. There are always going to be people there to take you down, but if you don’t let them, they can’t. And you, Sebastian Laurence—you’re just another fucking roadblock on my path. But you know what I do to roadblocks?"