Too Late, Mr Billionaire

till warm when Ch

fingers searching the mattress for hi

g was uneven, and her body felt strangely heavy. She had imagined this night differently.

marriage. Surely, by now, she d

s. Four. Five. She waited for him to turn. To say her name. To touch her h

move,"

u all righ

ha

ecked his watch like a man leaving a

left h

t?" She knew. She n

rousers. "I want a son, Tor

ke I'm a field

r. He didn't ev

s convincing herself that things would eventually become easier between them. That perhaps Chr

e wondered whether he had ev

s loud, and she had done that in the bathroom with the

t a di

ed. Then he laughed. It was low and a

melled his cologne and her own perfume on his skin. "Remember the girl wh

rl was a

her ear. The gentleness was the cruellest thing h

as shaking, so she gripped harder.

ace. She couldn't name it and didn't trust it. Then

suitcase," he said, "and a father

e always saw, and he al

ts with her father, the years of feeling unwanted, and how desperately she

he had chosen

ng bookshop. The lease, the stock, the renovati

ned to ice. "

that way. No one shouts. It just stops arriving, and by Chr

ity," Toria whisper

understood how cruel his words were. Anything that might convince her

was no

, one hand on the fra

ic

losing seemed louder th

taring at the empty space he ha

on her cheek, crying when the loan came through. You're a

l. Or a

endlessly about expanding the shop, introducing new collections and

happiness fel

ow and finally let it break, silen

as if nothing

st was cut into triangles. Chriss sat behind his newspaper, ankl

in its proper place. The silverware was polished, the curtains w

ia felt

ght look different. Ti

rfect. His han

rning,"

" He didn

that had taken her apart, and

and indecent, in its little glass dish. Her phone buzzed agains

g ring caught the light, and she twisted it,

e table, waiting for him to finish breakfast so the

she mistaken his pr

n nothing,"

up. His eyes hadn

not h

esterday. Or t

t him. He tu

r across a room. Yet he had been counting her meals,

Toria hated herself for the w

s there were things about her that he paid

ly pushed the

ing for affection in th

"I won't be

ered an inch. "Wh

ut

or

d watched the screen go black, and a small, wicked thrill ran t

iting for him to decide

g for permission

oor opened

His voice was perfectly c

rn around. "A

dn't

part that f