Wild Nights With My Brother's Ex-Best Friend novel Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

NICOLE

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“She’s with me,” is truly all Esmeralda has to say to the security guards at the door before taking me inside the venue where Carmen Lowett’s party is being held.

The word opulence isn’t grand enough to describe the display of wealth all around me. Though I have bigger things to worry about, I look around, taking everything in. Almost like I’m committing everything to

memory.

I think it’s my way of not dealing with what’s happening right now, which is confronting the possibility that Roman could be lying to me about everything he’s ever said.

But I’m about I find out.

“Amazing, right?” she comments as she bumps her shoulder into mine. Right now, I can’t pay attention to her, and I don’t even bother with a smile. My eyes are searching the crowd for Roman, and I’m terrified that I’ll spot him.

“Armand’s right over there. Want to say hello?”

Distractedly, I nod. As she drags me toward the other end of the massive hall filled with people, my eyes finally land on him.

Already, my heart is breaking into tiny pieces. My lips are parted because I can’t breathe through my nose anymore. He’s truly here.

I believed Esmeralda when she told me because she wouldn’t have lied, as she has no reason to, but it’s still a stab in the back. Why would he be here when they broke up? That’s not adding up.

“Hello, Nicole,” Armand says to me in his raspy voice. He’s holding a glass of scotch in his hand, and he leans toward me to place two kisses on my cheeks. “You look great.”

“Thanks,” I mumble as I look away from Roman. I’m in this permanent state of disbelief-the raw kind. It feels like I’m floating. I’m sweating. Dizzy. Nauseous. I want to place my hands on either side of my head and scream until my throat bleeds.

This can’t be happening.

Esmeralda and Armand start talking about…hell, I don’t even know. I look over my shoulder again at Roman. The pain on my chest is unbearable as it is, but it worsens when I see him standing close to Carmen, smiling down at her.

She stands on the tips of her toes and kisses his lips, then wipes her lipstick off. She chuckles at something he says before he kisses the side of her head and pulls her close to him. His arm is around her shoulder. Her head’s on his fucking chest.

The knife sinks in deeper, and tears finally fill my eyes.

I have to close my eyes to keep them from falling. The world around me becomes a blur. I’m no longer seeing

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Chapter 30

or hearing anything-everything hurts. Badly.

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I’m going to break down in front of all these people. I shouldn’t have come here, searching for a truth big enough to kill me.

Thankfully, Esmeralda and Armand aren’t paying any attention to me. I turn my body away from them slightly, not wanting them to see my face. Then, someone taps a mic because that’s the sound that fills the hall, and my stomach lurches when Roman’s voice fills my ears.

“Good evening, everyone,” he says. “Thank you all for being here. We appreciate every single one of you, Carmen and I, and wouldn’t have chosen a better group of people to celebrate this special night with.”

The crowd cheers, and I wipe a hand down my face to clear my vision. He’s in the same suit he wore when he took me to the sex club-this is all very much real.

His arm is still around her as he speaks. The sight of his broad grin disgusts me. “I wanted to take this opportunity and wish this marvelous woman here a magnificent birthday. Carmen, baby, I love you. You’re an amazing woman-strong, capable, independent as fuck-sorry to Mr. and Mrs. Lowett. I just love her way too much.”

The crowd laughs and tears finally slip down my face. I don’t make a run for the exit, though. I want to hear

more.

I need to hear everything. It’s like watching a speeding car drive right at me at a hundred miles per hour and not being able to step off the road.

“Happy Birthday, baby. I can’t wait to make you my wife.”

He drops the mic and kisses her deeply, and the crowd just erupts all around me while my world is falling apart. I watch as he kisses and holds her the same way he kisses and holds me, wondering if this is a dream. Mason’s words return to me then. His warning. The way he laughed when I told him Roman loved me.

What did he know that I didn’t? Why was I so blind to the truth?

They break the kiss and he looks around the cheering crowd almost triumphantly. As his eyes sweep over everyone, they slide right past me before returning to my face sharply. They widen imperceptibly-he’s seen me, alright. And he can’t even deny it.

I ball my fists and meet his gaze, not hiding the disgust written all over my face even as my heart is breaking. I imagine myself storming toward him and causing a scene. Jumping on the table and kicking Carmen’s expensive ten-tier cake until it spreads to every corner of this hall. Then, I’ll grab the knife meant to cut the cake and slam it into his ribs. Again and again.

This must be what it’s like to go crazy,

I don’t feel like myself right now.

But there’s a part of me that still loves myself, despite all this humiliation I’ve put myself through. So, I break eye contact and head toward the door without saying anything to Esmeralda. I keep going, the tears slipping from my eyes freely now that nobody’s watching.

I reach the exit, then make it to my car. There, I cry and cry, sobbing until I can feel like this weight on my

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