3

COLIN

Colin’s heart leapt into his throat as the situation quickly devolved outside of his control. The shocked expression on Daphne’s face drove a dagger through him.

“Daphne,” he breathed, a mix of disbelief and shock lacing his voice.

Her surprised features twisted into something more raw before she murmured an apology, suggested she’d interrupted something and fled from the room.

Panic edged his next actions as he watched her slip away from him. He shoved Bianca aside, sending her staggering back to bang into the blinds against the windows.

“Daphne!” he called as he hurried after her. His shoes echoed off the floor as he weaved through the bustling office. Daphne’s retreating footsteps mixed with the chatter of conversation, each step she took widening the gap between them. She barreled toward the elevator and rapidly pressed the button to call it.

He prayed it wouldn’t open until he caught up to her. “Daphne, wait!”

She didn’t even turn to look at him. He eyed the rising numbers above the elevator. He could make it to her before it arrived. He danced around an employee darting out of their cubicle, his eyes never leaving his wife. He’d never chased one of his exes like this.

He gripped her arm and coaxed her to face him, softening his voice. “Daphne, please, I can explain.”

If she just gave him a minute…

She raised her eyes to his. Did he detect betrayal in them? Disappointment? Something worse? She gave a slight shake of her head before she spoke. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

The words cut into him like a knife, stunning him into silence. He had been in this position before. He had expected a fight, not cold indifference.

As he reeled, she tugged away from him and stepped into the waiting elevator. The doors started to close before he could stick a hand in to stop them. “No, Daphne, please, wait.”

The doors cut off his statement. He leaned against the wall, his mind racing. He’d never felt this panicked upset before in his previous relationships. Why did he feel it now?

His last glance at her features, pinched with an upset he couldn’t define, burned through his brain as he let out a low growl and raced back to his office.

Bianca still stood there, her features apologetic. She tugged her full lips into a wince. “Sorry, Colin, I never intended for your wife to see us.”

He bristled at the familiar use of his first name as he crossed to his desk and grabbed his phone. He couldn’t even look at her. She’s caused more strife than she knew. “Get out.”

She fluttered her eyelashes at him as he found the contact he wanted and initiated the call. “Colin, I know this didn’t happen in the best way, but I think we both–”

“I said get out.” The phone rang one final time before James’s voice asked him to leave a message. With a growl, he pulled the phone away from his ear and scrolled to another with a shaky thumb.

Bianca stood for another moment before she took a few tentative steps toward the door.

He stared down at the name on his phone, spinning to face the assistant before dialing. “Oh, Bianca?”

“Yes,” she asked, whipping around to face him, an expectant expression on her face.

“You’re fired. Clean out your desk and get out of here. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

Her features fell in disbelief, and she hurried toward him. “But Mr. Martino–”

“Out!” he shouted at her, thrusting a finger toward the door. He wanted nothing more to do with her. This little snafu painted him in a bad light overall and with Daphne.

With a frown, she hurried from the office. He followed after her, slamming the door behind her and pressing the call icon. The line trilled a few times before Daphne’s voice said, “Hi, you’ve reached Daphne Stanton. I’m not available to take your call right now, but if you leave a message, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Bye!”

His fingers tightened around the mobile device as he waited for the beep. “Daphne, call me, please.” His mind searched for a compelling reason to convince her to call back, but all he found was. “I can explain.”

He paced his office as he waited for the phone to ring, but the call never came. She’d fled into the city, and he had no idea where. James had left, he couldn’t rely on his trusted chauffeur to stall her until he could get to her.

Her words echoed in his mind again. “You don’t have to explain anything to me.”

The coldness stung him all over again. The dismissal, the disinterest. If she’d have called him names, screamed at him, threatened to leave, he could have handled it better. He had no idea how to handle this reaction.

His chest heaved as he collapsed into his desk chair and scrolled to another name. With a shake of his head, he waited to see if his new target would answer.

“Daddy?” Francesca’s curt voice barked into the phone.

“Francesca, thank goodness. I need your help.”

She scoffed, her annoyance obvious. “I’m busy.”

“Well, get unbusy. Your little plan to save my image and hence my company is going up in flames.”

“Why? What happened? What did she do?”

“It’s not what she did,” Colin said with a sigh as he sank his forehead into his palm.

Francesca sighed on the opposite end of the line. “Seriously? It hasn’t even been three months, Daddy. How compromising of a situation did she find you in?”

“No, it was…I didn’t do anything. It was a misunderstanding. It looked like something it wasn’t.”

“So, wait. Did you cheat or didn’t you?”

“The new secretary got a little too close for comfort, and Daphne walked in at the exact wrong moment. She tore out of here, and I can’t find her.”

“Honestly, Daddy, this isn’t the first time an issue like this has cropped up. Do the same thing you did before. Some flowers, a nice new bracelet. If that doesn’t work, a gentle reminder that she’s contractually obligated to stay married to you for nine more months should do the trick.”

“No, Francesca, I–”

“I don’t have time for this now. Figure it out. This is your fifth marriage, you should know what you’re doing by now.”

The line clicked, and he pulled the phone away from his ear. Her last words echoed in his mind. It was his fifth marriage, but he felt less prepared for this one than any of the others. She didn’t understand. And neither did he, quite honestly.

These issues, even when they’d been marriage-ending in the past, hadn’t seemed as distressing as this one.

He sucked in a breath as he stared at his phone, willing it to ring. He only needed a minute to explain this misunderstanding. Though maybe it was more than just that. Trust wasn’t something his previous relationships excelled in, but it was all he had with Daphne. And he’d ruined it.

His hand tightened into a fist. Maybe Francesca was right. A goodwill gesture once they were speaking couldn’t hurt.

He rose from his chair and tugged on his suit jacket before he left the office behind. The humid air of New Orleans clung to him as he rushed through the streets to make a few purchases, the vibrant sounds of the city blending with the turmoil in his heart.

As he turned the corner to return to Martino Global, James stood next to the waiting car.

Colin closed the distance to him. “Please tell me you’ve already taken Daphne home.”

The pinch of James’s eyebrows told him the answer was no. James shook his head. “No, I dropped her off here for lunch. Is everything okay?”

Colin sighed, rubbing at his forehead. “No, everything is not okay.”

“Anything I can do?”

Colin considered it before an idea sprang to mind. “Yes. Call Daphne.”

James reached for his phone, tugging it from his pocket while he offered Colin a questioning gaze.

“There was an incident, a misunderstanding. She ran out. She’s not answering my calls. See if you can find out where she is.”

James pressed his phone to his ear, as he waited for the call to pick up. Colin knitted his eyebrows, a mixture of emotions coursing. Worry made him want her to pick up, but pride didn’t. It meant she was ignoring him.

A second later, Daphne’s voice answered.

“Mrs. Martino, did we get our wires crossed on the time?”

Colin leaned closer, trying to overhear the conversation, but he couldn’t make out the words.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Well, I can come pick you up, just tell me where you are…Riverside Park. Got it. Give me a few minutes, okay?”

Colin breathed a sigh of relief. At least they knew where she was.

James ended the call before he opened the door for Colin. “I assume you’re going with me?”

“You know it.” Colin climbed into the backseat as James slid behind the wheel. “What did she say about what happened?”

“She said you had to change plans. She went to the park and lost track of time.”

Colin drummed his fingers against the door as the buildings slid by his window. He tried to go over what he’d say when he found her. He’d explain the misunderstanding, offer her the gift, and do his best to smooth it all over.

The pillars framing the park’s entrance finally came into view. Daphne sat on a bench in front of one, the afternoon sun shining down on her as she waited.

James eased the car to a stop.

Daphne stood, her lips curling into a smile as James popped out of the driver’s seat. The smile quickly faded when she spotted Colin.

“Thank you, James,” he said as he approached her. “Daphne, you’re really a hard woman to get a hold of.”

She remained silent as he closed the distance between them, offering him an unreadable poker face.

“We need to talk.”

Her voice was flat, emotionless, though the tight clasp of her hands suggested she was less calm than she projected. “We don’t–“ she started but he guided her to the bench, easing her onto it.

“We do. It’s a misunderstanding. What you saw…it wasn’t what it seemed. She made advances, I was pushing back. That’s all.”

His mind raced ahead as he waited for her response. Would she believe him, or would she accuse him of not doing enough to have prevented or stopped Bianca’s advances? Instead, she did something he never expected. She said nothing outside of, “Okay.”

What did that mean? Was she fine? Why had she run if she wasn’t upset? He didn’t have an answer for that. And her features were still practically unreadable, though he thought he’d caught a glimmer of disappointment in her eyes.

“Are you…okay, I mean? You left so quickly.”

She glanced down at her lap. She was avoiding eye contact. That wasn’t a good sign. After a lick of her lips, she flicked him a sideways glance. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

He guffawed at the statement, his forehead momentarily creasing in confusion. “No, you weren’t. That’s my point. You shouldn’t have left. She means nothing to me. In fact, I fired her already. It was totally inappropriate behavior.”

This was uncharted territory for him. He’d never had a wife react so oddly to a matter of supposed infidelity. And certainly, when he had caught wives number two and four cheating, he hadn’t been this calm.

She flicked her eyebrows up, the only sign of emotion he received from the conversation. “I’m not sure that’s the image you want right now, but it’s your call.”

“Well, it’s not just the image I’m concerned with,” he answered. “And I’m very sorry about what happened.”

He thrust the flowers forward toward her. “These are for you. As an apology, along with…” He dug into his breast pocket and withdrew the long velvet box. “This.”

He snapped it open, allowing the sun to glint off of the sapphire and diamond bracelet.

Her forehead crinkled before her features shifted from seemingly indifferent to upset again. She snapped her gaze to his, confusion flitting across her eyes.

“I hope you like it,” he tried.

She glanced down at it again before she shook her head. Did she really not like it? He could return it and buy her something else. Something more to her taste.

She sat stunned for a second before she closed the box and pushed it away. “I don’t–“

“If you don’t like it, I can get you something else. This reminded me of your eyes.”

“No–“

“Daphne, please. I promise nothing happened. And I didn’t want anything to happen.”

She fluttered her eyelashes, a sign of frustration with the conversation. He eased off, allowing her to speak. “I told you in the office. You don’t owe me anything.”

The words stung just as much this time around as the first. Was she planning to break her contract and leave him? The thought sped his pulse a little.

“No explanations or…” Her eyes fell on the velvet box. “Gifts. It’s not my business.” She flicked her gaze to her lap, her hands tightening around each other.

“But…” He struggled to keep up with the conversation.

“Colin, I understand this arrangement. I don’t have any say in your private business or your life. Again, I’m not certain it’s a good idea given that new image you’re trying to project, but it’s not my business.” A light breeze ruffled her hair as storm clouds built on the horizon, and she slicked a lock of it behind her ear before grabbing the compass she seemed to always wear.

He sat in stunned silence, her words and attitude burning a hole into his chest. Gone was any of the warmth he’d come to know from her. She was cold and closed. Any progress in their relationship had been erased by the incident. And he had no idea how to fix it.