The Tyrant (Banker #3)(78)
He stopped filling out his paperwork and stared at the table before he turned to meet my gaze. He dropped the pencil, sat back, and gave me a glare so terrifying, it reminded me of my father—haunting me from the grave. “It’s done? We need to move on? You’re married to a psychopath—”
“He’s not that bad.”
“You’re defending him now?”
“Not at all. But he’s not a psychopath. He treats me well.”
“He forced you to marry him. How does that not make him a psychopath? He was obsessed with you and wanted to collect you like a trophy or a piece of jewelry.”
“Aren’t all men like that?” I countered. “Wanting a trophy wife to show off?”
“Not the same thing, and you know it.”
“Well, there’s nothing I can do about it now. You need to accept it—and let it go.”
He looked down at the table and clenched his jaw, like he didn’t know how to channel his rage anymore. “You did it to save that asshole—”
“Let’s not go there, alright?” I raised my hand and ignored my pasta because my appetite was gone. “I don’t want to talk about him. I don’t want to talk about what happened ever again. I suffer enough for my mistake every single day. There’s nothing you can do or say to make me feel worse. Seeing your disappointment every time I look at you just…breaks my heart all over again. It makes me suffer over and over. So just stop punishing me, alright?” I couldn’t shed a single tear because I’d shed enough already. Now I was numb to the pain, to the heartbreak. It was the same thing as when you saw loved ones at a funeral. The family of the deceased didn’t cry because they’d been crying every single day since they’d lost that special person. Their eyes ran dry, and there was nothing left to give. That was exactly how I felt.
My brother stared down at his paperwork, signed it in irritation, and then lifted his gaze to look at me again. “I just wish there were something we could do. I refuse to let you live your life like this. You deserve a husband you love, someone who makes you happy, someone I actually respect. Lucian is my brother-in-law, but he’s no family to me. It doesn’t matter how nice and polite he is to Dirk and me. I can’t stand the guy, and I never will.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at my plate. “There’s nothing we can do, Case…”
“We could kill him,” he whispered. “Make it look like an accident.”
“We would never be able to pull that off. Even if we could, I promised I would be cooperative. I promised I wouldn’t fight. I promised I would submit. I’m a woman of my word. And Cardellos always keep their word.”
Case tilted his head down and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s my job to take care of you. I feel like I’m not doing my job.”
“But it’s not your job, Case. It’s my job.”
“That’s not how Father would see it.”
“Well, he’s not here. And this was my decision. I have to live with it.”
He raised his head again then grabbed his pencil. “You want me to forgive you, but I don’t think I can. You want me to pretend everything is okay, but it’s not. What are we going to do when he decides he wants a family? My nieces and nephews will be the product of that asshole—”
“And you will love them the same, Case.”
He slumped his shoulders as he sat in the chair. “You deserve better, Cassini. My sister deserves better.”
I knew his anger came from love, because this man loved me very much. He didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, but he did have emotions bubbling underneath the surface. All he wanted was to protect me. But this was something he couldn’t protect me from. “It is what it is, Case. I made this decision—and I’ll live with it.”