Page 127 of Unleashed By Eden

Then another.

Then one more, deeper.

I’m not giving her the satisfaction of ruining another second of my life. She’s not getting a front-row seat to my rage, heartbreak, or my love story. She tried to burn me down; she doesn’t get to live in the ashes.

My anger simmers instead of spilling. I’ll aim it somewhere useful later.

“Karma’s a bitch,” he states, flat and fatal. “My lawyers are going to tear her apart.”

I inhale shakily.

“I couldn’t come earlier,” he continues, softer now. “Not until I fixed things with PrimeTime+. I know what being Vega Wolfe means to you. I know what your work means.”

My stomach knots. “Carter . . .”

“You’re off suspension, Vi.” His mouth quirks. “They’ve cleared you. Full public statement hits tomorrow. Your name’s clean.”

Everything from the waist down goes soft; my balance wobbles.

“And if you’d turned your fucking phone on,” he adds, narrowing his eyes, “you would’ve known two days ago.”

A laugh bursts out of me. “Shut up.”

“And that brings me to the real reason why I came.”

My brows pull together. “There’s more?”

“Oh, there’s more.” A glint sparks in his eyes.

He pulls his hand out of his pocket, fingers tight around something small and black.

Before I can see what it is, he drops down on one knee.

My heart stops.

The entire club inhales with me.

He opens the small black bag—cheap and crinkled, absolutely not fancy—and pulls out . . .

A phone charger.

I stare at him.

He stares at me.

Someone behind us snorts.

He holds it up between two fingers.

“This,” he declares loudly, “is so you never have an excuse not to answer my calls again. I want you to take my calls, Vi. And I want to take yours. Now. Tomorrow. Fifty years from now.”

A smile spreads wide across my face.

“For a second there,” I say, grabbing the charger, “I thought you were going to propose.”

His lips curve into a lethal smile. “Funny you should say that.”

He reaches into his back pocket this time. And holds out a red Cartier box in the center of his palm. He flips the lid open—and inside is a fuck-off gigantic coffin-cut, black-diamond ring. Gothic and insanely beautiful, it could have crawled straight out of my subconscious. There’s nothing sweet about it.