Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 28033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 140(@200wpm)___ 112(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Before he knew she could be useful to him.
Before any of it.
“Lexina, please—” Leonidas’ voice cracked. “That was my last gamble. And if it still wasn’t enough to earn your forgiveness, then I—” He stopped, swallowed hard. “Then I will let you go. If that’s what you need. If that’s what it takes for you to be happy, I will—”
Lexy didn’t let him finish, launching herself at him with enough force to make him stumble, her arms wrapping around his neck, her legs locking around his waist, her hands coming up to cup his face the way he had cupped hers so many times before.
“I love you.” The words tumbled out of her, wet and messy and completely inelegant. “I love you, I love you, I love you so much—”
His mouth found hers before she could say anything else, and this kiss was different from all the others—deeper and more desperate, but also more precious, his lips telling her without words what her heart already knew.
I love you.
Epilogue
The VIP box at Monaco’s Circuit de Monaco was nothing like Lexy had imagined.
She had expected something cold and corporate—all glass walls and leather seats and the kind of hushed reverence that came with obscene ticket prices. But Sienah had decorated it herself, apparently, and there were throw pillows on the couches and fresh flowers on every surface and a coffee station that would have made her husband nod in masculine approval.
Her husband.
How was it that they had been married for eight years, but at the same time, it felt like they were newlyweds, with her cheeks warming at the mere thought of Leonidas as her husband?
Lexy settled into her seat by the window, the Monaco sun pouring through the glass as the track below buzzed with pre-race energy. Pit crews swarmed around their cars like ants attending to queens, and somewhere down there, Leonidas was doing his final checks, running through the systems she had designed with the same intensity he brought to everything.
She had time before the race started. Time to think. Time to reflect on everything that had brought them here.
The past three months had been eventful, to say the least.
Gary—the intern whose name Lydia had almost let slip during that terrible phone call—had completed his suspension just last week. He was young, barely twenty-two, and had been so thoroughly manipulated by Lydia’s attention that he hadn’t even realized he was being used as a spy until Aivan’s security team had traced the breach back to his credentials.
He’d wept in Aivan’s office when confronted. Actual tears, streaming down his face as he begged for forgiveness and swore he hadn’t known what Lydia was really after. And he had wept even harder when he realized that all was not lost, and he would be given another opportunity to prove himself and make up for his mistake with community service.
Lexy herself had seen him yesterday, hunched over a diagnostic terminal with the focused intensity of someone determined to earn back every ounce of trust he’d lost. He’d looked up when she passed, and the gratitude in his eyes had been almost painful to witness.
Everyone deserved a chance at redemption.
Even Lydia.
Lexy’s heart ached as soon as the other woman’s name popped in her mind. Last she heard, Leonidas’ former mistress had spent the past three months...partying. Champagne-soaked selfies all over her social media, and every time she was interviewed by the press, she would insist that she was fine and living her best life.
Lexy honestly wished she could believe that. But she didn’t. And so all she could do was pray. That someday, somehow, God would send someone to minister to Lydia. An angel in human form, maybe, someone who could break through the walls Lydia had built and help her find her way back to the light.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket at that moment, startling Lexy out of her thoughts, and she was even more startled when she saw her husband’s name flashing on the screen.
Huh?
He was supposed to be in final prep.
Why was he calling?
“Leon?” She pressed the phone to her ear, her heart already beating faster. “Is something—”
“My legal department caught something online.” His voice was brisk, businesslike, but there was an undercurrent to it that made her stomach tighten. “I wanted to warn you in advance. I don’t want you to be caught off guard, and I want you to remember how much I love you—”
“You’re starting to scare me,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“It’s about my exes.” A pause. “Just check your phone. Race is about to start, I have to go. Love you.”
He hung up before she could respond.
Lexy stared at her phone, her mind racing through possibilities. His exes? What exes? He’d never mentioned anyone before Lydia—
A notification popped up, and Lexy clicked on it without thinking.