Chapter 2

I opened my mouth, and my throat, raw from the cold wind, hurt like I was swallowing knives.

“I won't agree to it.”

The project was already in its final stage.

Handing it over now would mean everything I'd worked for this whole time had been for nothing.

She let out a short laugh, looking at me the way you'd look at a child who didn't know any better.

“I knew that's how you'd react.”

She opened the fridge and took out a chestnut cake.

The familiar logo on top made my eyes sting.

That shop was almost a two-hour drive from the office.

Because I loved it, Katherine used to buy me one every week.

After Wayne showed up, the cakes stopped.

So she still remembered.

She carefully peeled the packaging open for me.

“Wayne went all the way to South Seattle to buy this. To thank you.”

My hand paused on the spoon wrapper, and I looked up at her.

“The two of you went together?”

Katherine nodded, scooped out a piece, and pushed it into my mouth.

Her tone said it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Now that you've eaten his thank-you gift, the project is settled.”

I pulled out a tissue and spat the cake into it.

Katherine's face darkened.

Before she could speak, I pointed at the notch in the cake.

The moment she'd opened the packaging, I'd noticed the whole chestnut that should have been on top was gone.

“He thanks me by making me eat his leftovers?”

Katherine didn't see anything wrong with it at all.

“Wayne bet me you'd refuse.”

“He just ate his winnings early. The outcome's the same either way.”

She set the spoon down and added quietly,

“And it turns out you really are as selfish as he said.”

Selfish.

The two words pressed down on my shoulders like a mountain.

The cake left in my mouth was so cloyingly sweet it made me a little sick.

I threw the whole cake away right in front of her and rinsed my mouth out several times.

Then I shut the bathroom door.

Shutting out that line she kept wearing to death.

“Wayne lost his sister. Would it kill you to give a little?”

The moment the hot water came down, the exhaustion in my body wrapped around me completely, like a tide.

I thought back to the first time I'd stopped her from lying in the same hospital bed as Wayne. Katherine had called me selfish then too.

A year ago, the eldest Fox daughter had gone off a cliff racing on the winding mountain road.

By the time they got her to the hospital, the window to save her had already passed.

Outside the operating room, Wayne collapsed against Katherine, sobbing.

“Katherine, my sister left me.”

Katherine's eyes went red, and she patted his back to soothe him.

“She may have left you, but I won't.”

“Evangeline Fox was my best friend. From now on, I'll look after you in her place.”

Basil and Leopold Fox held his hands too, their mouths full of thanks and relief.

I stepped forward to pat Wayne's shoulder and comfort him, but he slipped away from me without making it look deliberate.

They held each other tightly, and no one else could get a step closer.

In the end, Wayne cried himself unconscious in Katherine's arms, his hand still gripping the hem of her skirt so hard it couldn't be pried loose.

Katherine helped him up, laid him gently on the hospital bed, and then moved to lie down beside him.

Something went hollow in me, and I reached out to stop her.

“That's not really appropriate.”

She turned to look at me, her brows drawn tight.

“At a time like this, and you've still got that man-and-woman nonsense in your head.”

“Adrian, don't be so selfish.”

The cold in her eyes pinned me where I stood.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the eyes under Wayne's lids rolling frantically.

He was faking it.

But I didn't call him out. Instead, I considerately closed the ward door for them.

The draft in the corridor blew me cold all over.

In that moment, I understood.

Wayne weighed far more in Katherine's heart than I'd ever imagined.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, my phone lit up with a message.

“The divorce agreement is drawn up and sent to your email.”

Katherine was standing in the doorway, though I didn't know how long she'd been there.

“Who's messaging you this late?”

I pressed the screen dark, my tone flat.

“Just spam.”