Chapter 9

Back when I was trying so hard, he'd been a block of ice I couldn't warm.

Isobel showed up, and I finally got it. He wasn't incapable of love. He was just incapable of loving me.

Two years ago, I tore up the contract myself. I stepped back. I gave them the clean ending they wanted.

Now he was split from Isobel, and he was looking at me like nothing had ever happened?

My voice went flat.

"Sorry. Tim is my fiancé. We're getting married on the eighteenth. Ten days from now."

His face went bloodless. His eyes rimmed red. He looked like the earth had cracked under him.

I didn't have time for any of it. I led everyone out of the room. As I walked past Dante, he reached out and caught the hem of my sleeve.

I pulled free without a second's pause, took Tim's hand, and walked.