However, he’d caught her, and he grimaced now thinking about how he found out. After performing to produce this phantom baby his wife insisted that they were trying for, he’d gone in her bathroom to clean up for the first time in years. To this day, he still had no idea why he’d done that. It wasn’t as if his bathroom was occupied or far away; he’d just wanted to be close to her. For fuck’s sake, he’d wanted to cuddle, to hold her.
Instead, he walked in on her removing a vaginal contraceptive. He’d blinked and shaken his head to try clear it. There was no way he was seeing what was in front of him. It had to be a mirage, or he was being punked!
She’d stared at him in horror for a split second before she’d started lying. “It’s not what you think, Justin.”
“No? You’ve no idea what I think, sweetheart,” he’d said coolly, completely masking the bitterness he’d felt inside. The bile churning his stomach had everything to do with the realization that the woman he loved was lying to him. And he had to wonder, what else was she lying about?
“You don’t know what I’m going through. Tiffany and Bianca were featured on the front page of the Chronicle for the annual Heart Ball two years in a row. I can’t get pregnant now, Justin. I need to fit into my dress. When you see it, you’re going to love it! It’s the most amazing dress, and it’s a Valentino original. Do you have any idea how amazing that is? They’ll have no choice but to feature me on every newspaper in the city.”
“If you didn’t want a child, why go through the pretense of trying for one? Why make me think that I was shooting blanks? Why make my life so fuckin’ unbearable for the past few years?” Justin spun around and stalked back into the bedroom. He had to get dressed. He’d had to get out of there before he did something that would get him arrested.
“Don’t be like that, baby,” she pleaded as she ran behind him. “I saw how you were after Colt and Imani had their baby. You wanted that happiness, and I was trying to help. Besides, I thought you were having fun. You know, with all that unlimited mind-blowing sex. I thought you’d like the trying part immensely.”
“You’re fuckin’ unbelievable.” He’d starred at her as though seeing her for the first time, and it probably was the first time he’d seen her through the veneer of truth. And she was coming up far short.
“I know, honey. I know,” she soothed. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about having to stay in shape for my dress. But after Imani’s dress that one year, and then my girlfriends, I just couldn’t—”
“Christ! Are you for real?” He couldn’t believe that she was trying to pass this off as something as casual as not telling him about fitting into a ball gown. As though she hadn’t just ripped his heart from his chest and stomped on it. Not to mention almost forcing him into bankruptcy with her woman-of-leisure bullshit! Between the extravagant shopping trips, expensive cars, and the countless plastic surgeries, he’d lost his savings and had been steadily working on losing all that he’d earned in the past two years since leaving the army.
He’d left the house then and submerged himself in work for months after, while trying to get a handle on his finances before his brothers found out. Not that he’d ever use their company’s money to bail him out, but he didn’t dare tell them that he’d lost millions of dollars on such frivolous shit. And he for sure wasn’t telling them about being made a fool of by his wife.
“Justin? Talk to me.”
He knew Colt wouldn’t stop asking until he told him what he wanted to hear. Justin spent the ride to the airport and later on the plane telling Colt everything except about the money. He couldn’t bear telling his brother what an idiot he’d been about that.
“What’re you going to do?” Colt asked when all was finally told.
“What is there to do? She’s my wife. Till death do us part, right?”
“Yeah, but how can you trust her again? Marriage is all about trust.”
Justin laughed bitterly. “I don’t know what I’m in anymore, but I sure as hell can’t call it a marriage. I became a sugar daddy without the benefits or the fuckin’ desire to be one.”
“Damn little brother, you do this shit for a living. You’re one of the top divorce lawyers in the state, maybe in the country, and you’re telling me you actually believe in forever after?” Colt looked as lost as he felt.
Justin didn’t blame him. He didn’t know whether to be happy or sad at his inability to make a decision about the direction of his life. “Our parents have been married for almost fifty years. Dad still looks at her like he can’t wait to get her alone, and Mom blushes when he simply glances in her direction. And there’s you and Imani and Matthew and Anna. I want that. I want to know that the person I share my life with will love me through thick and thin like you all have.”
“You believe Melissa will give you that?”
“I have to believe that. She’s my wife. She’s my forever.”
“And this woman, Nakia? How does she fit into your life?”
“Fuck if I know.”
Chapter Three
Justin didn’t know what he expected to find when he arrived at the hospital, but it wasn’t the battered and bruised body that was barely recognizable. It took them hours to get in to see her. They were only allowing family in. It was only when Colt called in a favor from a friend on the hospital board that they allowed Justin into her room.
Unfortunately, there were four other people visiting her already, so he remained just outside the room door, out of the line of sight of the occupants of the room. After a while, he eased into the room and remained in the background. The four people sitting in the room were so deep into their conversation they didn’t realize that he stood in the shadows, not coming deeper into the room.
He was instantly filled with rage at the sight of her still, fragile figure. More than half her face was heavily bandaged. She had a tube in her mouth, bandages around her chest and ribs, and an IV needle in her hand. Her eyes were closed as though she were in a deep sleep. A state he hoped she was in, not only to escape the pain he knew she had to be feeling but also to avoid hearing how her four visitors were berating her. The more they talked, the angrier he became.
“She must have done something to cause Ralph to behave in this manner,” one of the women was saying. She was older, but he could see the family resemblance to Nakia. She had to be Nakia’s mother.
“You know she’s got a mouth on her,” the other woman grouched.
“Well, when is she going to wake up so I can get my son outta jail?” One of the men stood and paced the room impatiently. “She needs to control herself, or she’ll cost him his career!”
Justin had heard enough. He strode purposefully toward the group. “Good evening,” he drawled.
The occupants of the room turned and looked at him suspiciously. “Who are you, and what’re doing in here?” The man, who had identified himself as Ralph’s father, came toward him.