Ice crept through my veins.
I quickly excused myself and stepped into the hall.
“What is it?” I demanded once Christian was out of earshot. “Is Vivian okay?”
“Ms. Vivian is fine,” Edward assured me. “However, there’s been a…” He let out a small cough. “Development I thought you should be aware of. She has a visitor.”
I waited impatiently for him to finish. Vivian received visitors all the time. None of them warranted a phone call, unless…
“From what I gathered, it’s a former paramour. I believe his name is Heath.”
It took a beat for the implications to sink in. Once they did, fury slipped beneath my skin like a slow, creeping poison.
What the fuck was Heath doing in my house? He was supposed to be in fucking California.
I was going to murder Christian. He must’ve known Heath was in New York, and he hadn’t said a damn thing about it.
“Normally, I wouldn’t bother you with such a matter, but he was quite insistent on seeing Ms. Vivian. She agreed to let him in, but…” Another delicate cough. “Given his unexpected arrival, I wanted to alert you.”
Blood drummed in my ears, distorting Edward’s voice.
I was in D.C.
Vivian was in New York with her ex.
I made up my mind in two seconds.
“Keep an eye on them, and don’t let him leave until I’m home,” I ordered. “I’m flying back tonight.”
It was an eighty-minute commercial flight between the cities. My jet could make it in fifty.
“Yes, sir.”
I hung up and reentered the library. Part of me wanted to strangle Christian for purposely withholding information from me, but I had a more pressing issue at hand.
“I have to go back to New York.” I grabbed my jacket off the back of the couch. “There’s a…personal matter I need to deal with.”
Christian looked up from his phone and slid it into his pocket. “Sorry to hear that,” he said mildly. “I’ll walk you out.”
Pinpricks of anger and something else vibrated beneath my skin on our way to the foyer.
Fear.
What the fuck was I afraid of? Heath wanted a second chance with Vivian; he wouldn’t physically hurt her. I trusted Edward to manage the situation; one call from him, and my home security team would have Heath wishing he’d never stepped foot east of the Rockies.
But what if Vivian wanted to see him? Our relationship hadn’t been the warmest since our office argument. She could’ve called Heath over while I was away. Heath could be convincing her to give him another chance right this minute.
It shouldn’t matter, considering our match was doomed from the start.
But for some unknown reason, it did.
Christian and I reached the front door.
“This personal matter…” he said as I exited into the hall. “Wouldn’t happen to be Vivian’s ex-boyfriend showing up at your house, would it?”
Surprise halted my steps, followed by a cold blast of fury. I turned, my glare lasering in on Christian. “What the fuck did you do, Harper?”
“I merely facilitated a reunion between your fiancée and an old friend,” he said casually. “Since you enjoyed fucking with me so much, I figured I’d return the favor. Oh, and Dante?” His smile lacked any hint of humor. “Touch Stella again, and you’ll no longer have a fiancée.”
The door slammed in my face.
Red dotted my vision until it coated the walls and floor with crimson.
That fucker.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t let his threat slide, but I didn’t have time for his bullshit.
I’d deal with Christian later.
It took ten minutes to reach my jet, fifty to land in New York, and another thirty to arrive at my apartment.
Plenty of time for my fury to reach a full boil.
I should’ve handled the Heath situation myself instead of delegating to Christian. He was good at his job, but he weaponized any and all information at his disposal.
Then there was fucking Heath. I hadn’t received any urgent updates from Edward, but the thought of him being in such close proximity to Vivian for almost two hours set my teeth on edge.
When I reached my apartment, Edward greeted me at the door, his face carefully blank. “Good evening, sir.”
“Where are they?”
He didn’t blink an eye at my curt response. “The living room.”
I was gone before the last word fully left his mouth.
What could Heath and Vivian have been doing all this time? What were they talking about? Had they been in contact since he sent her those roses?
I stopped in the living room doorway. My eyes immediately found Vivian, who was backed against the wall next to the fireplace. Heath towered over her, his body partially obscuring her from view.
Fire ignited low in my gut.
I walked toward them, my steps silent against the thick carpet, my muscles coiling with each stride.
“I told you, I didn’t text you.” Vivian’s soft exasperation drifted into my ears when I neared. Neither of them noticed my arrival. “I don’t know what happened, but the message isn’t from me.”
“You don’t have to lie to me.” Heath’s voice needled my skin like tiny, annoying wasps. I wanted to reach down his throat and yank his tongue out. “You don’t want to marry Dante. We both know that. You’re only with him because of your parents. Look, just…just wait until my IPO, okay? Postpone the wedding.”
“I can’t do that.” Exasperation edged into weariness. “I care about you, Heath. I always will. You were my first love. But I’m not…I can’t do that to Dante or my family.”
“Were?” The needling voice tightened.
“Heath…”
“I still love you. You know that. I’ve always loved you. If it weren’t for your parents…” His head lowered. “Dammit, Viv. It was supposed to be us.”
“I know.” The thickness of her voice made my gut twist. “But it’s not.”
“Do you love him?”
My gut twisted further at Vivian’s long pause.
“You don’t,” Heath said. “If you did, you wouldn’t hesitate.”
“It’s not that simple.”
I’d heard enough.
“Next time you try to steal a man’s fiancée,” I said, my voice deadly calm despite the rage tunneling through me. “Don’t be stupid enough to do it in his house.”
Heath whipped around.
Surprise flashed through his eyes, but he didn’t get a chance to react before I hauled my arm back and slammed my fist into his face.
VIVIAN
A sickening crunch ripped the air, followed by a pained howl. Blood spurted from Heath’s nose, and the scent of copper drenched my surroundings, seeping beneath my skin and rendering me immobile.
I could only watch, horrified, as Dante hauled a spluttering Heath up by the collar and pinned him against the wall.
Anger carved harsh lines across Dante’s face, hardening his jaw and turning his cheekbones into slashes of tension against the firelight. His eyes simmered with slow-burning fury, the type that snuck up and annihilated you before you knew it’d even arrived.