Page 77 of The Wrong Husband

I ran a hand over my face. "Mom, Emilia is not the villain in this story. I am."

"What does that mean?"

It was hard to tell your parents how low you had sunk to get revenge. But the light at the end of the tunnel was that I had finally, for the first time in my life, fallen in love and found out what it meant to have a true partner.

I was in love with Emilia.

That feeling punched me in the gut in the best way. Robbed me of breath and filled me with joy.

"I'd just found out about Bianca cheating on me. I was upset. I had a meeting with Gideon, and he said Emilia was in Vegas for some buyer's meeting." I walked up to the bar and poured myself a drink. "I knew where she was. I went to her. I was going to sleep with her and—"

"No," Mom exclaimed. "Please tell me you didn't marry that poor girl to hurt Bianca?"

I shrugged.

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Mom threw her glass of whiskey against a wall, splattering liquor on a Ming vase.

"I was angry, I wasn't thinking. Okay? I flirted with her and suddenly it felt right to get married. And then we consummated the marriage."

No one needed to tell me what I had done was awful. I knew.

"But she thinks you got drunk, and she manipulated you." If looks could kill, my mom would have me six feet under right about now.

"Yeah. I know. I…let her think that."

"Why?" my father demanded.

"Because I was ashamed of myself, alright? I fucked up. I upended Emilia's life completely. I felt sorry for her. I didn't want her to find out that I manipulated her for the worst fucking reason possible."

I sat down on a velvet armchair. Louis the XIV I guessed.

"She lost her job. Her mother slapped her. Bianca pushed her and she needed stitches and got a concussion. The media was calling her names and—"

"You could've stopped it all by telling the truth." I closed my eyes when I heard Emilia's voice, small and tight, filled with tears.

Could this night get any worse?

"Sorry, Damian. She didn't want to leave you alone to deal with this," Duncan explained angrily, "She wanted to…you know…stand by her man."

The pain I saw etched on Emilia's face would haunt me forever. I knew she was in love with me—this was a bigger betrayal than anyone in her family had ever laid at her feet. I should've told her the truth from the start. I should've been a better man. But then I wouldn't have what we built. A life together that I absolutely loved. A life that I didn't even know was what I wanted. A life that wasn't all about work and making money all the time—but was about the simple joys of cooking a meal, watching her paint, watching her sleep, watching her…just being with her.

"You're all horrible people," Emilia looked around the room. "Marcela, you gave me a job and then proceeded to ignore me. Now I wonder if you wanted to show me how unsuited I was as an Archer."

I'd never thought about that and saw the guilt on my mother's face. "You asked Devi to have her team treat her badly." I couldn't believe it.

"I just told her what I knew…what I thought I knew. Bianca mentioned that Emilia did this before…steal her boy—"

"Emilia was a virgin when we had sex, Mom, so I can't see how she stole fucking anyone from that bitch." I walked up to Emilia, but she moved away, telling me quite clearly that she was done with me.

"And, Bianca, all those crocodile tears while you've been fucking around. Great. By the way, I want a written apology for you slapping me, otherwise I'm going to go to the cops and have you booked for assault."

When I thought it couldn't get worse, it did. "She hit you?"

"Her slap hurt far less than what you've done, Damian and your assault was way more insidious and not criminal at all." Her voice was flat. All the mischief, the joy, the fun that was my Em was gone. It just wasn't there.

Emilia turned to face her mother. "You're the worst mother in the world. Lose my number. Never call me, reach out to me, ask me for help. I'm not your goddamned maid. I left a job at Sotheby's to help you by being a buyer and you thanked me by treating me like dirt. I did it because you're family. But I'm done."

Duncan patted Emilia on her shoulder. "You're feisty, darling. I like that."