Chapter 534
Chapter 534:
“Is there anything else you’d like to tell me? Anything at all? About, say, dinner? Did you enjoy it p>
“Dinner was fine p>
My certainty that she was drunk grew with every passing second. She was incoherent, her thoughts scattered.
“That’s it? That’s all you’ve got to say?” Her stare didn’t waver.
For a moment, I almost felt as if she knew about the kiss. My hand twitched toward my mouth, to check if Lea’s lipstick stain was still there, but I stopped myself.
“That’s it,” I said.
Mira was drunk, hurting, and not thinking straight. Better to bring up Lea when she was sober.
She slumped back into the sofa, hugging a throw pillow to her knees and burying her face in it. She stayed like that for so long, I began to think she’d fallen asleep.
“Mira p>
Just as I was about to stand and check on her, she lifted her head. She tossed the pillow aside, lurched to her feet, gripped her engagement ring, and slid it off. She held it out to me in her palm.
“I think you’d better keep this p>
I stared at her, my brain refusing to process what I was seeing. The dread that had been gnawing at me since I arrived solidified into certainty.
She grabbed my hand and pressed the ring into it.
“Just take it p>
“You’re breaking up with me. Why p>
“I don’t think this can work.” Tears streaked her cheeks. “I’ve decided to buy Valmont & Cie. I’m relocating to Paris. We can’t be together p>
“Bullshit.” Ashton’s fingers dug into my shoulders. “That’s a bullshit excuse p>
“I’m signing the papers tomorrow,” I said.
𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝘁
I didn’t know what hurt more—his grip, sharp enough to bruise, or the look on his face.
I’d never been a big fan of alcohol, but tonight, drinking had been the smart choice. At least it dulled the pain.
“No.” He refused to let go when I tried to shake him off. “You don’t get to end this unilaterally. I get a say. You can’t just toss the ring at me and walk away p>
I gave up struggling and sank into the sofa, suddenly exhausted. “Working in Paris is my dream. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t p>
“Bullshit!” The word tore out of him, raw and jagged. His usual coolness was gone. He loomed over me, hands pinning me in place, his breath hot against my cheeks. “You could have told me. I’d never have stopped you from buying the company. So what if it’s in Paris? That doesn’t mean we’re over. It’s not like you’re moving to fucking Mars. Tell me the real reason p>
“That is the reason.” I looked away.
I’d miscalculated; one bottle of wine wasn’t enough to face Ashton’s razor-edged gaze or the predatory aura rolling off him. Like the first time we’d met, I was acutely aware of the difference between us—not just in size, but in sheer presence.
It wasn’t fear of him hurting me. It was the instinctive knowledge that he could. The same primal alarm that had screamed at me to run when we first met. He’d dialed it back since then, consciously or not, but now it was unleashed again. He gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes, dark with storm-lit fury.
“Tell me the truth p>