Page 123 of The Bad Husband

Then he looks down, drumming his fingers on his desk.

“The only reason Henrietta is still on the property is you,” he says sternly.

What is he saying?

Are they separating? Getting a divorce?

If that’s the case, why won’t she just leave?

She’d probably be more than happy to move out and take me with her.

“How did she get the news?” I ask.

“She threw a tantrum.”

“Should I be concerned with her?”

He searches my eyes.

“You have no reason to fear her. If anything happens to you, she’ll lose way more than her inheritance.”

“So where is she now? Is she back in town?”

“She won’t be back until next week.”

“You’ve said that before.”

“She won’t be back,’ he says.

I suck in a long breath.

“Okay, then. So when can I start?”

He arches an eyebrow in amusement.

“What do you have in mind?”

“I was talking about work,” I say, in a better disposition.

He purses his lips, no longer looking at me, before he flicks his eyes up.

“What else do you have in mind?” I murmur.

DAMON

There comes a moment in a man’s life when he falls for a woman and experiences a trickle of fear for the first time. No matter how much leverage he has, he can lose it all.

It takes one little step in the wrong direction, one bad circumstance, saying the wrong word, asking the wrong question, making the wrong move, and he can go from having it all to nothing in a blink of an eye.

I haven’t invented this.

Women haven’t invented this.

It’s nature’s way of saying that the winner takes it all.

So, from now on I’ll need to tread carefully.

I can’t show this woman how much I need her.