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Her mouth snapped shut at his vicious hiss.
“He’s retired and sick but still manages to find time to fuck with me any chance he gets.”
She raked her brains for a solution. “I kept in touch with some friends from college who are doing amazing things in the tech industry. If you’re looking to invest, they would be—”
“I don’t need your help.” His lip curled. “You rich people with all your connections. You don’t have to earn them. You’re clustered with future politicians, tech moguls, CEOs, and trust fund babies in your private schools. You make every connection you’ll ever need before you graduate. The rest of us have to hustle and pay our dues.”
“I’m not rich,” she said quietly. “I have some investments and my writing money. That’s it.”
“You’re my wife.” His voice was as dead as his expression. “That makes you rich.”
“But I didn’t even know you were doing well!”
“I’m nowhere near Hennessy rich, but I will be.”
She rubbed her throbbing temples. “I don’t care about that, Roth. I never did.”
“I care.”
He turned from her and faced the floor-to-ceiling windows. His view of Knightsbridge lit up at night was a beautiful sight.
“For two fucking years, he’s been a thorn in my side. Everything I build, he tries to tear down. Every business connection I make, he tries to undermine.”
He drained his glass. The penthouse was so quiet that she heard him swallow.
“I don’t know if this is worth it.”
Something sharp and cold speared her heart and began to spread through her chest.
“Maximus won’t be satisfied until he’s stripped me of everything. He’ll never let me get where I want to be.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but her mind felt like a snowy white TV screen. Panic and fear tumbled around inside her, and she took a step toward him with her hand outstretched, determined to stop this from advancing any further.
“Some days, I wish I never laid eyes on you.”
She stopped in her tracks and dropped her hand as his words slammed into her. He turned to face her. His rage blanketed the room and made it hard for her to breathe.
“I’m going to make your father pay for everything he’s done to me.”
The way he was looking at her made her want to back away, but her legs wouldn’t move.
He shrugged back his sleeve to glance at his watch. “I’m late for a meeting. You should have told me you were coming. I would have told you not to bother. I’m busy.”
He strode past her to the entrance hall, but his words carried back to her.
“Stay in Philadelphia. I’ll visit when I want you.”
She listened to him board the elevator, leaving her in suffocating silence. She was too stunned to move, to even crumple to the ground. She stood like a statue as her mind tried to process what had happened.
She thought she was going against the grain by marrying Roth, but she married a man just as driven and ruthless as her father. For men like them, nothing came before success and wealth. Instead of her name aiding Roth, it was holding him back, so he wanted to be rid of her. She no longer held any value for him. He had used her.
As the full impact of the ramifications hit her, her knees buckled. She grasped the back of the couch for balance. She stared at the beautiful penthouse through a haze of wet she refused to let fall. Despite her father’s interference, Roth was doing well. Better than, but he didn’t see it that way. Her father’s obsession with him probably had less to do with her and more to do with bringing Roth to heel, which would never happen. Roth wouldn’t give up. Her father and husband were locked in a battle that had nothing to do with her… and she wanted no part of it.
I’ll visit when I want you.
She flinched as his words cut through her mind. He didn’t treat her like a wife. Was that the only reason he visited her? Sex? Originally, he left her in Philadelphia to finish her degree. Yet it had been a whole year since she graduated, and he never once invited her to London. His excuse was that he was working and traveling. She understood that he was trying to recover financially so to discover him living so lavishly was a shock. He owned a multimillion-dollar penthouse, and she had no idea. What else didn’t she know? It was abundantly clear that he didn’t see her as a partner. She had no idea what kind of life he was living in London. He didn’t confide in her and didn’t want to share a home with her. Her gaze focused on the flowers on the table. It would be easy to hide other women from her. He lived his life the way he wanted with no input from her. She was a side note, a prop that wasn’t aiding him, so he ignored her.
She was a fucking idiot. She spun away from the great room and ran to the elevator. Thankfully, no code was needed to leave the penthouse. She wrapped her arms around herself as she began to shake. When she walked through the lobby, her focus was the doors that led out to the street.
