Page 15 of Desk & Deception
Mom’s expression tightened. “Why in the world would you break up with a man like Reid? Do you know how many women spend years hoping for what you already had?”
My sister arched a brow. “You cannot possibly think you’ll do better than him.”
I shot my dad a look, hoping he’d finally take my side, but he shook his head. “They have a point. You were about to walk down the aisle to a partner in a law firm with a generous prenuptial agreement. Are you sure you want to let all that go over something so small?”
My head started to throb. “We haven’t even talked about a prenup yet.”
“See.” Mom wagged her finger at me. “Reid loves you so much that he’s not even looking out for his own best interests.”
“You’ve built something nice with your makeup career,” my dad continued. “But you’re walking away from stability and a future most people would envy.”
Sienna leaned back, crossing her legs as her expression settled into superiority. “I told you this would happen.”
My stomach clenched at the cruel reminder.
Her lips curved into a pitying smile. “You’re too dramatic. Men like Reid don’t stay with women who make scenes over nothing.”
They continued to minimize everything Reid had done as they tried to make me feel foolish for walking away. Every time I tried to push back, they steamrolled right over me with another reminder of how lucky I had been that he’d proposed in the first place.
I sat there listening to them, the weight of their words pressing down on me until I couldn’t breathe. The emotional cuts kept coming, and I suddenly understood something that hurt worse than everything else.
My own family didn’t think I deserved to be treated with respect by the man I was going to marry.
No one here was really listening to me either. Just like Reid hadn’t.
He wasn’t the first person who made me feel like my feelings were too much.
The pain of being attacked by them on top of losing him became too overwhelming to bear. I stood, my legs unsteady. “I shouldn’t have come. I need to go.”
Sienna leaned back with a smirk. “Your dramatic exit just proves my point.”
I didn’t bother responding because it wouldn’t do any good. Instead, I turned and walked to the door. Their voices followed me, but I blocked out their words.
Getting into my car, I closed the door and sat there in much-needed silence as I tried to regain my bearings. Then my phone lit up on the passenger seat, and for half a second, a desperate hope blossomed in my chest that it was Reid calling.
Turning the phone over, I saw Sienna’s name flash across the screen. She couldn’t even be bothered to follow me outside. Or give me the peace I needed by leaving me alone. Because apparently it was completely fine for them to ignore my feelings, but I wasn’t allowed to walk away when it got to be too much.
I’d come here looking for somewhere to fall apart, but I’d left feeling even more broken.
8
REID
Ibarely slept.
Around six thirty in the morning, I was still on the couch where I had collapsed the night before, staring at the ceiling. The engagement ring had been clutched in my hand when I finally drifted off for a restless hour or two, but when I woke up, it was gone.
“No, no, no,” I groaned, rolling to the floor. “Where is it?”
I knew I was being irrational because the ring couldn’t have disappeared on its own, but I panicked as I searched for it. I tore through the couch cushions, shoving my hands deep between them until my fingers finally closed around the cool band again.
“Thank fuck.”
Clenching the ring that I was determined to put back where it belonged, I flopped back down on the wrecked couch. I doubted it looked worse than me, though.
My dress shirt was wrinkled and half-unbuttoned, and the soggy socks I’d kicked off my feet last night were on the floor next to me. I’d raked my fingers through my hair more times than I could count, and my eyes burned from lack of sleep and the sting of tears I hadn’t been too proud to cry.
Lila had spent more nights here than at her own place lately, and I hadn’t been able to handle the thought of sleeping in my bed without her. She wasn’t supposed to be gone.
