Page 70 of The Sun & Her Burn (Impossible Universe Trilogy #2)

“It’s called passion,” I told her. “And I lost it for years, but I found my way back to it thanks to Linnea Kai, who has more class and grace in her little finger than you do.”

She sniffed, her equivalent of a scoff.

“And thanks to Sebastian,” I continued cruelly, because Linnea had been right, Savannah still had the ability to cut me through to the bone, and I wanted to hurt her, too.

She had always loved Seb more than me , I’d thought, and the flash of almost animal pain and fear in her eyes spoke to that truth.

“You’ve taken up with him again,” she said, the words almost wooden, falling between us to the marble floor with a hollow clang.

“I never stopped loving him,” I admitted, and fuck, it felt good like an exorcism. “It was you I should have told to leave, never him.”

“You know he came here a few weeks ago,” she said, a little sneer in her mouth.

“To beg me to be with him again. He never stopped loving me. He didn’t speak to you for a decade, but he couldn’t bear to have me out of his life for more than a few years.

If he had to choose, we both know who he’d pick. ”

“Do we?” I asked softly, putting my hands in my pockets and rocking back on my heels, suddenly wary of her and this game, yearning for the freshness of Linnea’s vibrancy to erode the old cold sweeping through my chest. “Obviously, you turned him away. Seb might be loyal, but even he has his limits, Savannah.”

“Not for me,” she said, tipping her chin at the haughty angle so she could look down her nose at me from her inferior height. “I’m his duchessa .”

And I’m his impossible universe , I thought, but didn’t say because I didn’t want her to have any further part of us.

She was in the past where she belonged, and I wouldn’t think of her again as soon as she gave me what was owed to us.

“It’s no matter, now,” I said. “You’re married to Tate.”

“And you’re engaged to Linnea Kai. How is that any different?” she seethed.

“If we lived in a different world where love in all its shapes and sizes was considered sacred and beautiful, I’d have my ring on Sebastian’s hand in a heartbeat.

” I paused and stepped closer to look down at her with cold scrutiny, seeing through her for the first time in a long time. “What’s your excuse?”

She trembled slightly with frustrated rage, glaring at me as if I were the enemy.

Even though I thought she was cruel and unkind sometimes, unable to love me the way I’d needed, I was still shocked she could look at me that way when there had once been love and marriage between us.

“I came here for Sebastian’s watch,” I said, done with this play. It was a bad script and a shoddy role. “If you could fetch it, I’ll be on my way, and I won’t bother you again.”

“Sebastian’s watch,” she repeated dumbly.

“The Patek Phillipe Celestial. I know he gave it to you years ago when he saw you with Tate in New York. I was the one who bought it for him, and I’d like it returned to me.”

“Why? It’s just an old watch.”

Apart from the fact that “old watch” was over six hundred thousand dollars, it had sentimental value for all of us , I’d thought. That Savannah could refer to it as something so diminished soured my gut.

“Who are you?” I asked. “When did you become so cold?”

She hugged her robe tighter over her chest as if she felt a draft and shivered. “Don’t presume to know me anymore, Adam.”

“Excellent, then you do the same,” I suggested. “Please, do fetch the watch, and I’ll be off. It’s late, and I have things to do.”

“Tell me why you want it,” she insisted.

I rolled my eyes, but the words burst out of me because I was still angry with her, and the man I’d been with her who had let Sebastian slip away for ten fucking years.

“Because it was a promise! A promise to love him in a way that rearranged the universe so that we could be together forever, no matter the obstacles between us. You never should have taken it from him.”

“He gave it to me. He didn’t want it anymore.” She said “it,” but she meant “you.”

“Things change,” I said.

Or they didn’t, because I had never stopped loving Sebastian. Knowing we had both existed under the same moon kept me up at night and yearning for the phantom touch of his hands against me and his Italian-soaked voice in my ear.

Now, he was back, by some miracle.

A miracle called Linnea Kai, who had somehow managed to bridge the gap over troubled waters so Seb and I could find our way back to each other again.

“I sold it.”

I blinked as I came back to the conversation. “Excuse me?”

Savannah shrugged and studied her nails, her own enormous diamond glinting in the light from the chandelier overhead. “I sold it a few years ago. A friend of mine mentioned he was looking for a Celestial, and I offered it to him for a good price.”

“You’re not serious?” I asked quietly, a dangerous thread of fury in my tone.

I thought, for one moment, I might throttle her.

“I am. Rupert Meinhardt. Lovely fellow.”

“You really are heartless,” I breathed, shocked by it even though I had no reason to be. “How could you?”

“All of that was in the past, and that stupid watch was something between you and Sebastian that I always felt left out of,” she admitted with narrowed eyes. “You were always trying to keep him for yourself.”

“No, that was you,” I said, running a weary hand over my jaw. “How could I ever have thought polyamory would work when you can’t even properly share yourself?”

“I don’t engage in that anymore,” she said, as if it were beneath her.

I had to get out of there before I spiralled any further.

“Text me his number and then delete mine,” I told her, moving toward the door. “And Savannah? I hope to God I never see you again.”

I closed the door on her surprised face, breathing through my mouth in an attempt to calm my anger before I got into the car with Linnea.

It didn’t work.

I slid into the back seat and barked, “Drive.”

“What happened?” Linnea asked, pressing herself along the line of my body.

The feel of her unraveled some of the knots in my chest, and I turned to bury my nose in her hair as if the scent of her could burn out the remnants of Chanel lingering like smoke inhalation in my lungs.

“She sold it.”

Linnea tensed against me, then muttered, “What a bitch.”

The laugh startled me as it exploded from my lips.

I curled her into my embrace as humor moved through me, so fucking grateful for her I finally understood why Tom Cruise would jump on Oprah’s yellow couch and shout that he was in love.

I wanted to tell the world how fucking lucky I was to have this woman in my life.

“We’ll find another way to show him,” she promised, canting her head to kiss the dimple in my chin. “But I’m sorry that’s lost to you both.”

“For now.” I had every intention of hunting down Rupert Meinhardt and using bribery, coercion, or force to get that bloody watch back.

And use it to convince Sebastian that he was always meant to be mine.