Chapter Fifteen – Cullen
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CULLEN
F uck.
It’s the only word that comes to mind.
“Oh God, she didn’t see you, did she?” Bridget’s brows furrow slightly.
“What the hell is she doing here?”
She lets out a soft cluck before lacing her hand in mine and dragging me off to the side.
“ This is why I said I was surprised you showed up here.”
“What do you mean?”
She lets go of my hand and places her hands on her hips. “Do you not pay attention to anything?”
“Bridget.”
“Her company designed all this.” She flourishes her hand around, almost whacking a server in the process.
“She runs a design agency, B, not an interior design firm.”
“The brand, Cullen. She designed the brand for Kelton Honors Club. Her logo was on the invitation.”
I whip out my phone and pull up the digital invite. I really hadn’t paid any attention to it since I initially had no intention of attending.
I zoom in, and sure enough, there at the very bottom among the sponsors is my ex’s logo.
“Mother fucker.”
I’ve known that our paths would cross eventually. There is no way I’d be able to move back to the city without running into her—that is the entire reason why I’d left in the first place—but that doesn’t mean I wanted to run into the woman.
Fucking hell.
If she spots me, this entire night is going to go to shit.
I need to leave.
Some men might think it’s cowardly to run from their ex-wife, but that’s because their ex-wife isn’t my ex-wife. The woman harbors so much ill will toward me that Chloe and Bridget forced me to go see a Reiki healer to get an energy cleanse when we separated.
I’m not afraid of her, and I’m not mad at her, but I am sick of her. She’s been determined to hammer every single nail into my coffin ever since I uttered the word divorce and is an absolute nightmare. I admit that I made some mistakes, but I wasn’t the only one.
“Where is she now?”
Bridget pushes onto her tiptoes. “I don’t know. I lost her.”
“What? Keep looking.”
“I am. There’s like a bajillion people in here.”
“You need to find that she-devil before—”
“She-devil?” The icy voice freezes the blood in my veins, rooting me to the spot.
“Found her,” Bridget squeaks out.
No shit.
I take a split second to send a prayer to my balls and then slide my mask carefully into place.
I turn around and finally come face-to-face with my ex.
“Yes, well. If the shoe fits.”
“I see the years haven’t aided your maturity at all.”
“You, on the other hand...” I squint my eyes. “Are those gray hairs?”
All right, maybe I’m not as amicable as I thought, without our lawyers in the middle.
Her expression falters for a moment as she tucks loose hair behind her ear.
“I can’t believe you would dare show your face at my event.”
“Your event? I think Jace might disagree with that statement.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I didn’t even know you would be here, because, surprise, the world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“No surprise. I am very aware that your world doesn’t revolve around me. That’s part of the reason why we are here, no?” Her gaze sharpens to daggers.
“Oh, here we go. It’s always my fault, isn’t it?” I tilt my head down, voice lowering. “I thought you were only speaking to me through your lawyers. Wasn’t that one of your terms? No contact?”
“Seeing as how you’re back in the city, you’re well aware of where our terms sit currently, Cullen.” She spits my name with venom.
“And yet, you’re still being the difficult one, Celine.” I hiss her name back with just as much poison.
“Difficult? Ha.”
“I fulfilled my end. I did what you asked, and now it’s your turn.”
“Nothing you ever do will be enough.”
“That’s bullshit. You’ve made me suffer for ten years.”
“You deserve to suffer for eternity.”
“You’re delusional.”
“Fuck you.”
“Now who’s the immature one?”
“Get out of here, Cullen.” Her voice rises a decibel.
“I have every right to be here. I sold the damn building.”
“And I branded it.”
“Well, it’s a shit fucking design.”
There’s a gasp from somewhere, and it breaks through the toxic bubble that Celine and I have created around each other. I’m not sure why the noise has such an impact on me, but I find myself turning toward it.
Standing behind me is an angel dressed in a cobalt blue dress, hair gracefully fluttering past her shoulders and a look of absolute pain marring her heart-shaped face.
Verity?