Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
Venus
“Can we talk?”
The soft tone and puppy dog eyes were different.
I hadn’t seen this version of Trevor ever.
When Carson told me not to engage with him during the mediation, I agreed but thought that would be hard to do.
I thought I’d want to yell at him and question why he’d treated me the way he had.
I figured I’d want to ask him why he chose me to use to cover up his lifestyle.
The moment I sat across from him at the conference table, answers meant nothing.
Neither did closure. I wanted nothing more than to have him out of my life completely.
Asia had stuck to her promise and took down the videos.
She hadn’t mentioned Carson again and didn’t even reach out when the DNA test results came back showing that Carson was not the father of her baby.
In an unexpected plot twist, I’d looked her up on Facebook over the weekend and found out Dru wasn’t either.
His wife made him take a DNA test or she was going to divorce him, and it turned out he wasn’t the only man she was fucking before she met Carson.
Even with the uncertainty of the paternity of her child, I prayed Trevor would leave me alone after today just like Asia had left Carson alone.
It was crazy how people could harass you and treat you as if you’d done them so wrong while they were lying, withholding secrets, and living all kinds of double lives.
“Do you want to talk to him?” Carson asked, arm wrapped around my waist. “Now that we’ve come to an agreement, you can if you’d like.”
The agreement was that Trevor would drop the lawsuit and leave me the hell alone in exchange for me keeping his secret.
And seeing as the secret would expose both him and Adam, I felt like he wouldn’t risk it coming out.
Trevor might not have been shit when it came to our relationship, but he was honestly killing the financial game in the South and was one of the best financial advisors and day traders under the age of forty.
The man got paid to pay people’s bills and make sure they were saving and spending their money properly.
The bulk of his profit came from the percentage he received after making investments on his client’s behalf though.
He had some of the wealthiest people trusting him with their money, and if I was him, I wouldn’t want to jeopardize losing that just to fuck with an ex that I clearly didn’t want to be with to begin with.
“I don’t have anything to say to you, but if you have something to say, you can,” I said before pulling in a deep breath.
“I just wanted to apologize. This situation caused me to look back on my behavior, and I can acknowledge that I wasn’t treating you right.
I’ve been going through some shit, and instead of me dealing with it, I punished you for my suffering.
The way you asked me to treat you, I treated others.
I didn’t make space for you intimately because I was giving those parts of me to someone else.
Then when you finally had the courage to leave me, my ego made me want to hurt you because I was embarrassed.
“The truth is, I didn’t want to be with you.
I like men, and I should have been honest with myself about that.
You are the only woman I’ve ever seen myself marrying and being happy with, though, and that’s why I wanted us to get married.
I figured it was better to at least have a woman I could get along with at home to keep up the facade while I did my own thing. ”
“If you want me to keep this a secret, why are you coming clean to me now?”
He shrugged and gave me a sad smile. “Just… felt like I owed you the truth. I know that won’t change things between us, but I just wanted you to know the truth.”
“Well, I appreciate that, and one day I hope you have the courage to live loudly in your truth. If not, your secret is safe with me, just as long as you leave me the hell alone.”
Trevor chuckled and bobbed his head, and I smiled as my heart squeezed.
“I will. You deserve better than I was able to give you. I can admit that now.” His eyes shifted in Carson’s direction. “Make sure you give her that.”
“He already is,” I assured him, running my hand up and down Carson’s chest as his hand tightened on my waist.
Trevor eyed me for a few seconds more before nodding and walking away, and all I could do was thank God that this chapter of my life was finally over.