Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
KAI
Amelie stormed into the living room of my temporary home—a villa near the water. Her eyes blazed with indignation that came naturally to well-bred women. For the most part, she was humble and composed. But she was raised like a princess, and every so often, her pride shattered her calm.
Like now. Her first act wasn’t verbal. The greeting was her right hand connecting with the left side of my face. “You’re trying to buy me? What the hell?”
“And how are you today, Amelie?” I asked lazily, tapping the cheek she’d slapped. My skin was hot to the touch. Was it masochistic to want her to do it again, just to feel her soft hand?
“I’m frigging fine!” she shouted, sounding anything but. Fury somehow enhanced her beauty.
“Would you like a drink?” I asked politely.
My question made her angrier. “Are you an utterly insane person?”
“Is that a no?”
She breathed fire from her nostrils, and I fought the urge to smile. I never threw around the word adorable, but she might be the exception. “Why are you doing this?” she asked through clenched teeth. “Are all the women in Darster dead for you to pursue a married one?”
“I’ve been forthright about my reasons. Those women aren’t the right choice for me.”
She snorted.
I held my breath when her signature scent—jasmine—permeated the air. She had picked this perfume in her teens, just like she had picked Stefan, and never tried anything else. She was loyal to a fault.
My control was already teetering in her proximity.
Anything could push me over the edge, and I couldn’t afford to snap right now.
So, I calmly walked to the bar cart to make her a drink.
It might also help her take the edge off.
Anger was one of her natural attributes.
Oddly, so was adaptability. Even when her family went bankrupt and fate ruined her perfect satin world, she brushed it off with, “As long as I have love, I don’t need anything else. ”
I was delivering the keynote address at a college affair meant to inspire the next generation when my eyes first landed on Amelie.
I was the one onstage, yet she had captured my undivided attention.
A solitary figure in the back row, dressed head to toe in blue, with her elbows on her knees as she texted someone.
It annoyed me that she wasn’t paying attention to my speech, and she was the only person whose attention I wanted.
For several moments, I forgot I was on a platform in front of hundreds of people. I had no fucking idea why anyone was looking at me with that beauty in the room. Thick, dark hair. Long lashes that reached her cheeks. Almond eyes that might as well be singing the siren song.
It took several tries to force out the rest of my speech.
I fumbled, recovered, fumbled again, rushing to get through it so I could speak to the woman in the back row.
That was before I found out she was only seventeen, doing her college orientation.
I was much too old for her, and waiting for her was the only appropriate thing to do.
It was only after the fact that I found out about her long-distance relationship with her high school sweetheart.
Apparently, Amelie wore rose-colored glasses and saw only Stefan through them.
Her obliviousness to anyone but him enraged me.
Despite meeting me in passing, she didn’t remember me or our interactions. All for a guy who was beneath her.
Amelie was a princess, born into a family like mine, while he bore no significance.
Part of me wondered whether she sought a diamond in the rough as part of a rebellious phase.
She was slumming it to provoke her absentee father, so he’d give her more attention.
It never crossed my mind that she might love him out of loyalty.
Over the years, I sent dozens of women to distract Stefan. They’d run into him at the gym or blatantly hit on him at a bar. But no woman could turn his head. His faithfulness frustrated me. Her happiness infuriated me.
I still never expected them to end up in a courthouse the moment they graduated from college. She married him, and I didn’t find out about it until it was too late.
With no other way left to sabotage them, I sated myself by watching her through the living room window of their home.
Men who complained about being friend-zoned couldn’t fathom the torture of watching their person through a glass window.
What I would have given to be her friend, to interact with her daily, to talk to her, to have her look at me.
Stefan’s disdain for his mediocre life infuriated me. Every time he complained about bills or his job, I wanted to reach through the window and throttle him. I would have sacrificed my right hand to trade places with him, and he had the audacity to appear grim at how life had turned out.
Amelie couldn’t understand Stefan’s desire to escape a life full of love, and he couldn’t fathom her nonchalance toward wealth.
They returned to his parents’ home to take care of three kids, and Amelie acted like she had won the lottery.
In her eyes, life was perfect when a home was loud and lively.
Nothing could sway her—except for his dissatisfaction.
I loathed Stefan for it, though I was angrier with myself for waiting instead of claiming her.
I had to watch him touch her, which drove me fucking insane.
I was a masochist. A glutton for punishment.
It was my self-inflicted hell, and still, I watched them, waiting and gathering information.
The timing had to be right if I wanted to strike, and their desperation for a better life had to be just enough.
Every glimpse of them together made me physically ill, yet I returned to that window like an addict reaching for his next high.
I lived in this constant purgatory until I received word of their crippling financial despair.
Stefan feared Amelie would miss her pampered life and leave him for a wealthy man.
A woman of her caliber needed to be indulged.
Before, they could fall back on her father’s cushy bank balance.
He grew anxious without that safety net.
It was ironic. He wanted to escape his modest life to be good enough for her. He believed she deserved better than the life they were stuck in. It was poetic. How could I not exploit it?
I did everything in my power to make their situation worse so they’d need a savior. Because by then, I had found myself wondering which was worse—sharing Amelie with another man or living my life without her? And if I were having these thoughts, surely I could instill them in Stefan as well.
I was certain Amelie would never leave him. He’d never leave her, either. But what were they willing to endure to be together?
Amelie craved balance. She didn’t dwell on the past and what could have been. Someone born to luxury shouldn’t be able to withstand a penniless life, yet she was living in poverty, immune to suffering.
Don’t get me wrong. She wept and bled like the rest of us, but she bounced back before the tears could dry.
Life couldn’t take down someone as resilient as her.
It was the reason I approached Stefan instead of her.
Amelie knew how to handle disappointment and forced herself to conform to her environment.
Stefan, on the other hand, longed for a different life and fixated on what he didn’t have.
He was likely to be swayed by my offer because turmoil could only touch those dissatisfied with their circumstances.
The dinner was a test to see how hard I had to push Stefan. It turned out—not very hard. I received a phone call from Stefan two days later. They were on board, but Amelie wanted to speak with me alone.
I knew it was only a ploy to vent her anger.
I poured a glass of Syrah for Amelie. I had bought this bottle with her in mind. I knew she’d like it because I knew almost everything about her. As much as I could learn from a distance.
“I’m offering you a chance to change your lives,” I told her. “On some level, you must see the value in my proposal. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”
I handed her the glass, but she set it on the coffee table without drinking it. This was a business meeting as far as she was concerned. “I’m here because you made my husband feel worthless with your filthy offer.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re giving me too much credit. I didn’t tell Stefan he was worthless. If anything, I valued your family at well over market rate. Take it as a compliment.”
She recoiled at my words. Amelie was shaking, not only from anger but also from adrenaline.
Her voice cracked. “Compliment? You decided my family was for sale. You made Stefan feel like his only options were to accept your offer or end things to make room for you.” Her jaw tightened.
“I have no choice left but to cave.” She jabbed a finger at my chest. “The sad thing is that you don’t even want a family. ”
My mouth quirked, enjoying the sharp poke of her nail. I hoped it left a mark on my chest. “As I explained to Stefan, I enjoyed my time with you and the kids and wanted to be a part of your family.”
Her expressive face screamed that she didn’t believe a word I said.
Her gaze flicked around my living room, taking in the gleaming surfaces, free of stray crumbs or sticky spots.
Nothing here was childproof. “Yeah, you look like a real Mary Poppins. Admit it. Targeting a desperate couple is just a game to you.”
I wasn’t deterred by her ire. “Appearances can be deceiving, Amelie. I want a family more than anything, and I made a play for it. How Stefan responds to my proposal is his decision. No one’s holding a gun to his head.”