When You're Mine (MINE #3)(23)
Wiping her face with the sleeve of her hoodie, she sniffled. Then she brought her red swollen eyes to mine, sucking in big gulps of air every time she breathed. “You were right.”
Well… no surprise there.
A grin curled my lips as I chewed on my sarcastic reply. “About?”
“Ev… everything.” She was on the verge of hyperventilating.
I took a seat next to her, pulling her into my arms. “Just tell me exactly what the hell happened please.”
I gave her a few more minutes to gather herself before finally…
“Tabitha called me from your phone a few hours ago.”
“What are you talking about?”
Mia lifted her head from my shoulder, wiping fresh tears from her eyes. “She told me her and Brent had a one night stand a few months ago at a hotel on the other side of town. She even told me which credit card he used. I didn’t believe her at first, I was so pissed. But after checking his credit card statement online, I discovered she was telling the truth. So I woke his ass up and confronted him about it.” My dry mouth refused to form words. This had to be a dream.
A f*cking nightmare.
Mia continued. “He said he thought he could be faithful, but it’s just too hard. He’s been cheating on me the whole time we’ve been together.” She hiccupped again, another wave of tears rolling down her soaked cheeks.
My body grew thick with rage, mentally listing the ways I wanted to destroy him. Mia sobbed, drowning in his deceit and lies. “Why didn’t I listen to you? Why didn’t I listen when you kept telling me he would break my heart? You knew him better than anyone.”
I stood up, claiming a solid breath. “Call Farrah. Have her come pick you up.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do what the f*ck I said.”
Running into the bedroom, I took in the rumpled sheets before dashing into the bathroom and back out. Scanning the bare floor, I clutched my stomach, searching for the air to breathe. A ray of sunshine peeking through the center of the drapes bounced a blinding light off the dresser. I knew what it was, but took three steps to confirm. A necklace lying on top of a white slip of paper holding a single word.
Goodbye.
“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, MOTHERFUCKER!”
I have never been a violent man. I’d never even thrown a punch until my freshman year of college, and that was because Brent was fighting off an angry boyfriend who’d caught him screwing his girl. I felt like I could kill this son of a bitch with my bare hands. He’d broken my sister’s heart. Had his hands on what was mine.
I wanted him to bleed.
I left Mia back at the hotel, hauling my ass straight to her apartment where I found Brent already packing his shit. My anger had completely taken over and before I realized what I was doing, I had him pinned against the wall. “How could you?”
“I want you out.” he said.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You’re finished, Shaw. Over.”
Pressing my forearm to his throat, I applied more pressure. “You better start making some f*cking sense soon.”
Brent struggled for air. “Let… me go,”
Adrenaline sparked hot in my veins at the thought of snapping his neck in two. Luckily, my conscience decided to join the party and I released him, but not without landing a solid left hook to his jaw. I retreated several steps, adding enough space between us to prevent myself from putting my hands on him again. Afraid if I did, next time, I wouldn’t let up until he stopped breathing.
Working his mouth with a groan, he spit blood on the floor. “You always thought you were better than everyone else. Even when we were younger, you were always so f*cking perfect; you always had to win at everything. Everyone thought you hung the goddamn moon, including my ole man. Anytime I did something good, you did something better. Anytime I won a case, you always won one bigger.” Hollow eyes stayed fixed on mine, continuing in his carefully controlled tone. “I knew you wouldn’t walk away. I knew you wouldn’t let it all go without a fight. So I had to find a way to force you,” Brent pulled a jump drive from his pocket, tossing it on the bed. “Keep it, I have plenty of copies.”
“What’s that?”
“America’s favorite lawyer f*cking two unconscious women.”
Blood drained from my face. “You son of bitch! You drugged me.”
He shrugged with a calculated smile. “Maybe, but you willingly participated, and that video shows you enjoying every second of it.”
I ran a rough hand through my hair. “What do you want?”
“Walk away and that video will never see the light of day.”
“And if I fight?”
“You won’t. Not unless you want your reputation to be destroyed, or videos of me and your kinky sister to find their way online too.”
FUCK!
“Why? Why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s the only way my father will ever see me. If you leave, he’ll stop comparing me to you. If you leave, I finally win. I was hoping to marry Mia first. Turning your family against you would have been a lot of fun. But your little bitch and her big mouth f*cked that all up.”
“You won’t get away with this.” I snatched the drive from the bed.