I was about to be in the spotlight again.
I just wondered how long it would take Conway to notice.
And if he did notice…would he care?
5
Conway
After three weeks, I couldn’t avoid it anymore.
I had to go back into my bedroom.
I hadn’t stepped inside since Muse had vacated the premises. She could have looted some of my stuff for all I knew.
Even though she never would.
I held my breath as I walked inside, expecting complete destruction. She had been in such a hurry, she might have knocked things over as she stormed out. She was pissed, so she might have shattered the TV and tipped the table over.
But the sitting room was exactly the same.
I moved across the room to the bedroom. Once I stepped over the threshold, I saw the chaos. The closet doors were still open, and a lot of her dresses had fallen off their hangers and onto the floor. Her drawer was pulled open, and most of her panties were gone.
I stepped farther into the room, seeing the piles on the bed that she left behind. She probably meant to take them with her but she didn’t have room in her bag. It was a shame, because I bought her the most gorgeous clothes money could buy.
But she had to leave them behind because I threw her out.
I noticed the champagne dress with the diamonds along the straps. It was beautiful, and I found it odd that it was sitting on the ground directly underneath my dresser. When my eyes moved up, I noticed my drawer was still slightly open. It was where I kept my t-shirts, a drawer that Muse used just as much as I did.
I opened it and looked inside.
Half of my shirts were missing.
She took them.
Despite what I did, she still wanted a piece of me. And she left one of her favorite dresses behind to make sure she had room for them.
This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted to come in here.
Because I knew I would feel like this.
Like shit.
I sat at the foot of the bed and rested my elbows on my knees. My hands cupped my skull, and I breathed through the ferocity, breathed through my regret. The last six months of our relationship had been erased in a single night.
Because of me.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out to see Carter’s name on the screen.
I answered it. “Tell me some good news.”
“Actually, I do have some good news. But I have some pretty shitty news too.”
I closed my eyes and rubbed my skull. “I want the bad news first…but only if that means she’s alright. If she’s not alright, just don’t say anything. I can’t bear it…” I’d never been this scared to face the truth. But I’d never cared about something so much that it made me this vulnerable.
“Alright…I haven’t found her. But I know she’s okay.”
I released the breath I was holding. “Thank fucking god. What’s the bad news?” Now I could handle anything he said.
He sighed into the phone. “You aren’t going to like it…”
“Just tell me, Carter.”
“Well…she’s modeling for Andrew Lexington now.”
I heard the words loud and clear, but my brain didn’t work as quickly as my ears. “How…how do you know this?”
“Because I found a picture of a photoshoot she did for him.”
“You’re sure it’s her?”
“There’s no mistake, man. And if I were you…I wouldn’t look at it.”
A jolt of jealousy and possessiveness rocked through me, making my jaw clench so hard my teeth almost shattered. This was the one time I would take his advice. “That means she must be in New York. But you didn’t see her on any of the flights.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure how that happened. Must be because of her last name.”
It’d only been three weeks since she left, and she already managed to make a deal with one of my competitors. How did he find her that quickly? Or did she go to him?
“Are you going to call him?”
That was a dead end. “He tried to get a hold of her a few months ago, but I wouldn’t put him through. If I call, he won’t help me.”
“Too bad you burned that bridge…”
I had been too possessive of her at the time. And I should have stayed possessive of her. “She must be in New York. I know where his office is, so I should be able to wait outside until she walks in.”
“You’re just going to ambush her?” he asked.
“You got a better idea, asshole?” I countered.
“Hey, I’m trying to help you here, asshole,” he snapped. “I say you have someone tail her and find out where she lives. Show up there. That way you have some privacy to talk. Talking outside Lady Lingerie isn’t going to get you far.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“When are you heading out, then?”