King of Greed (Kings of Sin, #3)

by Ana Huang

To knowing your worth and never settling for less than you deserve.

Once upon a time, I’d loved my husband. His beauty, his ambition, his intelligence. The wildflowers he’d plucked for me on his way home from a graveyard shift, and the gentle kisses he’d trailed over my shoulder when I stubbornly refused to heed my alarm clock. But once upon a time was a long time ago, and now, as I watched him walk through the door for the first time in weeks, all I felt was a deep, dull ache in the places where love once resided.

Dominic was never done with work. It was the world’s most demanding mistress.

I finally had a good reason to cry, but no tears came. I just felt…numb.

“I don’t have the money to buy you all the flowers you deserve yet,” he said, sounding so solemn and formal I couldn’t help but smile at the contrast between his tone and the jar of colorful paper flowers in his hands. “So I made them instead.”

For the first time in forever, I allowed myself to feel, and with that came blinding clarity. I couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t spend the rest of my days going through the motions and pretending to be happy. I had to take back control of my life—even if it meant destroying the one I currently had.

“I’m asking you one last time,” I said quietly. Blood roared in my ears, nearly drowning out my words. “Where is my wife?

“What good is any of that if I never see you?”

“You’ve made it clear, time and again, that I’m not a priority.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’...

“Do you know what I asked myself every night when you were staying late at the office again? I wondered, if there was an emergency at work and at home at the same time...

“You know I would cho...

“That’s the thing. I don’t.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “Because you haven’t chosen me. Not...

“You honestly think we’ll be happier if we divorce? That I’ll be happier without you? This is us.” The word ripped from my throat, raw and loaded with emotion. “Você e eu. Para sempre.” You and me. Forever.

The thought of living without her was incomprehensible, like asking a heart to stop beating or the stars to give up the night. “I promise.” We had to. Maybe I haven’t expressed it as much as I should have, but Alessandra was an indelible part of me. She had been since the moment I laid eyes on her eleven years ago, though I hadn’t known it at the time. Without her, there was no me.

Thayer was filled with beautiful girls, but there was beautiful, and there was her.

In order for people to take me seriously, I needed to look the part, and looking the part was damn expensive.

I didn’t know why, but I focused better when I was tired.

“The problem isn’t the assets, Mrs. Davenport,” Cole said. “It’s you. He doesn’t want to let you go, and unless you can convince him otherwise, it’s going to be a long fight.”

Learning foreign languages didn’t come easily for him, but the fact that he’d done it anyway because he wanted to make a good impression on my family… The ache deepened. God, I adored this man.

“Maybe, but I wanted to.” Dominic’s face softened. “Faria qualquer coisa por você.”

“Ask me again on another day, and my answer might be different. I would stalk you if it meant you’d talk to me again.”

“How romantic.”

“I’m past romantic, Alessandra. I’...

A stab of sentimentality drained the fight out of me.

“Sign the papers, Dom.”

“Do you want to be rid of me that desperately?”

I hated making a fool of myself, but I’d never been able to deny her anything.

As long as she felt something, we were salvageable, because what I feared wasn’t her hate; it was her indifference.

“Come home.”

“Tell me what you want, amor.”

“I want you to come on my face first. Show me how much you want it.”

I loved her, and I’d missed having her in my arms so damn bad that I would give up every possession just to freeze this moment in time.

My wife was home, and I’d be damned if I wasted the night on a one and done deal.

I had the dim thought that if I did die, I would do so happily because I was exactly where I belonged: with her.

“I’m sorry, amor.”

“Let me go.”

“I wish I could.”

“Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you don’t love me anymore?”

“Loving you was never the problem!” She finally met my eyes, her expression equal parts infuriated and anguished. “I’ve loved you for eleven years, Dom. I loved you so much I lost myself. Everything I did, everything I gave up and endured was for you. The late nights, the missed dates, the canceled trips. I believed in you and wanted you to succeed, not because I cared about the money, but because you did. I thought one day, it would be enough, and you would be happy with what we had. But you’ll never be happy, and I’ll never be enough.”

“Do you know that there were times when I wished you had a mistress? At least then, I would have something concrete to fight. But I can’t fight what I can’t see, so I went to sleep every night in an empty bed, and I woke up every morning to an empty house. I faked my smiles for so long I couldn’t remember what a real one felt li...

“You’re right. I do still love you. A part of me always will. But you’re not the person I fell in love with anymore, and all this time that I’ve spent tr...

“You’re the only person I’ve ever loved.”

“Even if I didn’t show it. It’s always been you.”

Shards of glass wedged between my ribs with each step, but an icy numbness enveloped me as I opened the top drawer. I retrieved a pen, slid a sheaf of documents out from the waiting manila envelope, and, after one last, agonizing heartbeat, I signed our divorce papers.

I thought I would feel different. Lighter, freer, happier, but I only felt numb

“You can go on as many dates as you want, amor,” Dominic said softly. “But no one will love you like I do. Você e eu. Não tem comparação.”

I’d signed countless contracts that had brought me riches beyond imagining, but for once, I’d had to sign one giving up the most important person in my life.

I’d signed the papers, but that didn’t mean I’d given up on us. Not by a long shot.