Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Got it,” Toni said, leaving before I could ask the impatient father’s name. Even a preliminary online search would’ve made me feel more prepared for this ambush, I mean, meeting.
The door opened a crack. Toni peeked her head inside with huge, excited eyes and an open mouth. “Oh my God,” she mouthed before pushing the door open and stepping inside.
“What?” Toni wasn’t usually so excitable, so I assumed it was a celebrity or influencer.
She motioned to the figure that stepped in behind her. “This is Mr.—”
“Enzo,” I finished automatically, his name slipping out before my brain could process what was happening. The air around me thinned. “What are you doing here, Enzo?”
Toni made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a gasp as she slowly backed out of the office, closing the door softly behind her.
The room was plunged into silence, not exactly tense but awkward as hell. I mean, what else could it be when I stood just a few feet away from Enzo DeRossi, the man who shattered my heart and severed my ability to trust anyone but myself? One second we were madly in love and planning a future together, and the next he’d flown back to Los Angeles for a family emergency that ended with the end of us. “Well?” I asked impatiently.
He blinked, almost taken aback by my tone. But then that slow smile appeared, forcing me to take stock of all that had changed in nearly two decades. He seemed bigger, but maybe that was just the presence he’d earned with age. The charcoal three-piece suit on his six-foot-three frame didn’t hurt either. Enzo was still broad with a commanding presence, but now everything about him screamed expensive.
His masculine scent took up all the space in my damn office, making it hard to focus on anything but him, and I hated that I noticed everything about him. He wore his dark hair longer than he used to; it was still the kind of glossy black that made fingers itch with the urge to touch it. Then again, a lot of things changed over the decades.
“Serenity. You haven’t aged a day.” The reverence in his voice, the softness around his eyes, was almost too much to bear, and I forced myself to look away.
Traitorous heat prickled my skin, so I rolled my eyes in an act of maturity. “Right. What are you doing here?” I asked again, my tone harder now.
A smile touched his full lips, but then he nodded as if he knew we had to move past pleasantries and didn’t like it, and he slipped into a bland mask that I preferred. “Right. We have a lot to talk about, I suppose.”
“We don’t,” I insisted. “I just need to know why you’re here.”
He inclined his head, his sharp eyes missing nothing. “The best way to explain is to start at the beginning, which is to say, the end of us.”
I hated those four words and what they meant, how they made me feel. “I’m not interested in rehashing the past.” Liar, my conscience screamed. I’d waited too long to hear why he’d left me the way he had—why I wasn’t good enough.
“It’ll become clear soon enough,” he said easily. “I promise.” When Enzo stepped forward, my heart rate quickened, and I was suddenly very grateful for the desk that stood between us. The room was small, but it felt smaller with his big body dominating the space. “Come on, Ren,” he spoke softly. “Sit.”
The nickname that only he’d ever called me, Ren, hit that spot beneath my ribs with enough force to buckle my knees. I hated that I responded to him that way—or to that stupid nickname. “Serenity,” I corrected him when I finally found my voice.
A ghost of a smile made an appearance. “Of course.” He was so self-contained. Not quite icy, but he kept his emotions under wraps impressively. “The reason I left…” he began.
My ass had barely landed in the chair before its legs squealed as I pushed back, standing so fast I would’ve been dizzy if I wasn’t so scattered. “No. Nope. We’re not doing that.” I pointed in his direction as if one motion could ward off the words I suddenly knew I wasn’t prepared for.
“We must.” His tone didn’t rise; it simply filled the room. “It is the only way my being here makes sense.”
I dropped back into my chair with a heavy sigh, pushing back until it smacked against the wall. “Fine.” I dug my feet into the carpet and held my breath. And waited.
Enzo nodded once, like a man accepting terms he wasn’t happy with. Welcome to the club. “I told you I had to go home for a family emergency.” His eyes held mine, green and steady. “The emergency was my father’s death. That’s what I was told, but it turned out he was murdered.”