Page 77 of The Logic of Loyalty

It feels like thousands of pounds of stress and fear fall off me all at once. We signed a post-nup agreement, and what she didn’t realize was that it wasn’t me protecting my assets, but hers.

The freckles dotted across her nose multiplied over the summer months. Her lashes flutter, brushing against my thumbs. As I feel her against my skin and watch her expressive face begin to fall, I ache to hold her. When her dark eyes fill with moisture, she blinks, and it slides down her cheeks. I wipe it away, but keep my hands there until hers cover them and pull them carefully from her face. I will away the disappointment and let my hands fall to my lap.

“I know I’ve screwed up.” My voice is a rasp. I can barely get the words out. “I know I made mistakes that have dragged you into things you didn’t deserve or sign up for. I just, before I take this step, I want you to know what’s coming and why. I also want to give you the opportunity to ask me to wait.”

“Why would we wait?”

We. She remains kneeling at my feet, so I scoop her up with a squeak and deposit her back onto the couch. “He can make our life very uncomfortable very easily. Even with me out from directly under his thumb. I have been speaking to Billy. I want to buy the business from Paul with Carter and⁠—”

A cheerful, surprised “Oh!” sounds from her lips, and I smile. “That would be wonderful, Trevor. The three of you together like that?” The wistful tone of her voice builds my courage.

“That’s the goal. I started my exit about a month before … Well, around March of this year. Nobody is aware of what I’m doing, planning, but my progress slowed significantly for reasons I now understand.”

“You told me you were hoping to make changes, but you kept it vague.”

“I didn’t want to disappoint you if it all came to nothing, and it wasn’t set in stone. Plus, my father was pushing all of this unwanted responsibility to me, and until the loan is paid off⁠—”

“You couldn’t disappoint him.”

I shake my head.

Paige reaches over and grabs the papers again. “There’s no way this is legal.”

“I—”

“When did you show your lawyer?”

I cringe. “Well, here’s the thing⁠—”

“You didn’t do it?”

“I need you to know that I haven’t stopped fighting for you and for our home and family.”

“Why wouldn’t you⁠—”

“By the time I realized that I could, we had so much to lose.”

“So you ducked your head and kept carrying on.”

I close my eyes and shove my shame deep, deep down. “I decided it was easier to get out by following the contract.”

“Do you think he would have actually let you go?”

I sigh, but don’t know how to answer her. “I was on track to be able to pay him off by the end of this year, but the events of July—” Her sharp inhale makes me pause. The openness of Paige’s face shutters, and a blank expression fills it instead. It’s a punch in the gut, but I try to push through it. “They made me realize that I was giving too much energy to my job, and I realized that I need to make a change. Then when Jacob came home … Well, it changed my plans completely.”

“The events of July? Is that how you refer to taking another woman out on dates? You realized you were putting too much energy into a person who wasn’t your wife because you were caught.”

“That isn’t entirely true⁠—”

Paige leaps off the couch, so I follow her to my feet. She turns to me with fire in her eyes. “You already admitted to that, Trevor. You took her to all those lunches, and to top it all off, you brought her to a damn concert!”

“I already told you that wasn’t what actually happened. She completely misrepresented⁠—”

Paige throws her pointer finger into the air. “You took her to lunches. Plural.” A second finger. “You put your hands on her.” Then a third finger. “You find her attractive.” Then a fourth finger. “And you left me to take her to a concert!”

“On July Fourth, I left because my mother was in my ear about keeping Krista happy, or else I’d have to deal with the consequences.”

“So, obviously, that means that you had to stay, drink, watch a concert, provide her a place to get laid, and come home smelling like her!”