Page 216 of Bridesmaid By Chance
“Sloane—”
“No, you listen to me. I’m your wife,” I say with conviction. “It might have started off as an agreement, Hudson, but from the beginning, you have said that I’m yours and you’re mine. We are married, and you’ve taken that very seriously, which means as your wife, my value in your life ranks higher than Jude’s.”
He drags his hand over his face. “Sloane, the things he said, they’re so goddamn true.”
“Like what?” I ask.
“That I have more of a relationship with my office desk than I do with my family. That I’m not trustworthy. That I go back on my word and that I’m more interested in business than I am in my morals. You deserve better. He knows it, and I know it.”
“Well, I don’t know it,” I say. “And shouldn’t my opinion matter the most? Shouldn’t how I feel matter the most? Not to mention, none of that is true. You left your dad’s business because you cared about your sister and your morals. You absolutely do not go back on your word. You chose to marry me, and you’ve taken that very seriously. Not to mention, you are trustworthy?—”
“I left you in fucking London alone with no communication from me, Sloane. That’s not necessarily reliable. That was me focusing on the job and hanging you out to dry.”
I swallow the pain of the reminder because, yes, that was not his best showing, but I also know there was a reason he did that.
“Tell me this,” I say. “Why did you leave London?”
“You know why.”
“No, tell me. You never actually told me what happened.”
He sighs and says, “I went to talk to my dad.”
“About the lawsuit?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
He looks off to the side. “We hashed out our grievances.”
“Uh-huh, and how did that go?”
He shrugs. “I mean, it seemed like it ended okay. Like there was possible room for him to make a difference, to change the way he approaches a relationship with us.”
“And you came back here wanting to patch things up with me, correct?”
“Yes,” he says.
“Why?”
“Why? Because I…because I didn’t want to lose you.”
“Why?” I ask again.
“Why did I not want to lose you?”
“Yeah, Hudson, why?”
“Because you…you make me feel…safe. Seen. Heard. You bring joy to my rather mundane life. You challenge me in ways I never thought I would be challenged. You make me come alive, and you’re truly one of very few who have done that, the only other ones being Hardy and Haisley. And when you’re near, I feel happiness, like I know everything is going to be okay because you’re by my side.”
God, I wasn’t expecting to hear him say that.
But wanting to prove my point, I cup his cheek and say, “And you’re going to throw that all away because of my brother?”
“It’s not just your brother,” he says. “It’s a livelihood, many people’s livelihoods. I can’t choose happiness over that.”
“And what about my happiness?” I ask. “What about yours?”
