Thorn and I sat in the back seat of the car while my driver took me to the news station. I agreed to do an interview with the biggest broadcasting company in the nation. My story was getting more attention with every passing day, and if I didn’t make a statement, it would seem like I was hiding something.

Thorn grabbed my hand and held it on his thigh. “You’ve got this, Titan.”

“I know.”

“Did you see the statement I made to the New Yorker?”

I shook my head.

He grabbed his phone and showed me the quote.

---

When we asked Thorn Cutler about the news of his girlfriend, Tatum Titan, he only had a short statement to make. “Ms. Titan has endured a lot in her past, but it doesn’t define who she’s become. I think this will only make the world admire her even more than they already did. I know I do.”

---

My eyes met his, and I smiled. “Thanks, Thorn.”

“Of course. This interview will get the world on your side. I know it will.”

“I hope you’re right. I don’t want their judgment, their pity.”

We pulled up to the station then walked inside. I was doing a live interview in just thirty minutes. I walked into the studio and took a seat in front of a mirror, knowing they would do my makeup first.

“Ms. Titan.” Olivia James walked up to me, her makeup done and her hair perfectly styled. She was ready for the cameras. “I’m so sorry to do this, but the interview has been canceled. A news story has just been dropped, and we have to spend our hour covering it.”

“What news story?” Thorn asked.

“Diesel Hunt,” she said. “He just gave the biggest interview of the year.”

---

Side by side in the back seat of the car, we watched on Thorn’s phone.

Diesel wore a black suit with a matching tie. It fit his muscular body perfectly, and his coffee eyes were piercing more than usual. He sat across from the interviewer, calm and collected like he was sitting in a meeting. He was so handsome it was unnerving. He looked like a man who should be in film, not business.

John Bettencourt sat across from him, his list of questions written on his card. “The last time you and your father were photographed together was nearly ten years ago. Have you spoken since that moment?” He got right into the interview.

“Is he going to talk about his father?” I asked incredulously.

“Looks like it,” Thorn said. “But why? What does he get out of this?”

Hunt’s expression didn’t change as he took the question. “Shortly after that photo was taken. My father is an astute businessman. He taught me everything I know. I would be lying if I said he hasn’t had a tremendous impact on my life.”

“But you haven’t spoken since?”

Hunt shook his head slightly before he answered. “No.”

“Why is that?”

Hunt didn’t fidget in his chair, but he didn’t rush into the answer. He wore a black watch, and he held himself like he was the one conducting the interview. The topic made him uncomfortable, but he never showed it. “We disagreed on a lot of things.”

“Money?”

“No.”

“Then what?” John pressed.

“My mother had a son before she met my father. When she passed away, my father took him in. But he never loved him. My younger brother Jax and I were always treated differently. We went to the best schools, had the best clothes…but my eldest brother was outcast. When it came to a point where I couldn’t take it anymore, I left. My father made me choose—and I chose my brother.”

“Oh my god…” I covered my mouth as I watched Hunt confess the truth to the entire world.

John asked Hunt to reflect on his childhood memories and his mother, but I stopped listening.

“I can’t believe he did that.” I didn’t see any advantage to telling the world about his painful relationship with his father. It was bound to piss off Vincent Hunt, and they were already butting heads.

“I can’t believe he did that either. There’s only one explanation for it.”

“What?” I asked.

“He’s trying to take the focus off you.”

---

The reporters disappeared from outside my building. Not a single one lingered behind. I walked into my building without a single camera pointed in my face and took the elevator to my penthouse.

It was nice to be home.

I made myself a drink and sat on the couch. My stilettos were kicked off, and I let my feet relax.

All I could think about was Hunt and that interview.

My phone went off with a text message. You must have seen my interview by now. It was Hunt.

I stared at the screen, unsure what to say.

I’m in the lobby of your building.

Of course he was. Why didn’t that surprise me? I checked the code to my elevator, but I was certain Hunt wouldn’t try to come up without being invited. But if he knew I was home, that meant he saw me walk inside. He wasn’t far behind me.

Titan.

He knew I was staring at the phone right that second. He could read me without even being in the room with me. I should tell him to leave me alone, but I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to ask him about that interview…ask if he was okay. I shouldn’t care, but of course, I did.

I walked to the elevator and hit the code so the doors would open.

When he didn’t text again, I knew he’d stepped inside. The light over the elevator lit up as it counted the floors. It beeped before the doors opened, and I came face-to-face with the same Hunt I saw on TV. He was even in the same suit.

I crossed my arms over my chest and forced myself not to take a breath, not to let my body react to him naturally. Each time he walked into the room, I was a little weaker than I was before. My mouth ached for his. My body did too.

But those days were over.

He stepped inside with his eyes fixed on me, that intensity burning holes in my skin. He still looked at me like he owned me, like I was his possession. He closed in on me and barely left any space between us.

He smelled exactly the same.

I looked up into his face, maintaining the stoic expression I wore around people I didn’t trust.

Because I didn’t trust him anymore.

I was the first one to speak. “Are you okay?”

He tilted his head slightly as he looked at my mouth. The heat radiated off him, the desire to press his mouth to mine. But he didn’t move in because I would only pull away. His eyes took in the rest of my features, slowly drinking them in like he hadn’t seen me in years. “You know I’m not okay.”

I knew he wasn’t referring to the interview. He was referring to the distance between us, to the end of the most beautiful relationship I’d ever known. It was full of passion, trust, love…and now it was gone. “Why did you do it?”

“You’re a smart woman, Titan. You’ll figure it out.”

“You did it so people would stop talking about me…”

His only response was a slight nod.

“Why, Hunt? Why do you care?”

“You’re the woman I love,” he whispered. “Of course I care.”

My heart ached with a pain that wouldn’t subside. I was livid with him, I didn’t trust him, but I loved him—so goddamn much.

“My father is pissed. He’s probably smashed everything in his house by now. I’ll pay for the interview…in many ways. But no one cares about your story anymore, Titan. It’s old news, and it won’t surface again. Everyone will be talking about this for months…if not years. You still believe I betrayed you?”

I stared at his hard jaw, the smooth skin that was cleanly shaven. I used to run my lips over that chiseled jawline. I used to plant kisses there when he was asleep beside me. Now I stared at it because I couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Why would I sabotage myself for you?” he whispered. “Why would I make this sacrifice if I’d really stabbed you in the back?”

“I don’t know…”

“Because there is no reason. I’ve always been loyal to you. I just proved it.”

His scent was overwhelming, and the look in his eyes burned me. I stepped back, needing the space to breathe.

But he crowded me once again. “I’m not going away, Titan. If I’d betrayed you, I would admit it. But I never did.”

“The papers were in your drawer…”

“But I never read them. And I certainly didn’t show them to anyone.”

I looked at the ground because I couldn’t stand the intensity in those brown eyes. “I don’t know what to think.”

His hand moved to my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Yes, you do. Maybe all the evidence says I’m guilty. But you know I’m not.”

I enjoyed the touch of his hand so much. I nearly closed my eyes when he felt me. A moan almost escaped my lips. But the terror gripped me by the throat. I had no idea if he was guilty or innocent, and that made me afraid. I stepped back so his touch would disappear. “Maybe you did tell that reporter, but it was a month ago. You fell in love with me in the meantime, and now that the story is out, you needed to do something to win me back.”

“No.”

“Maybe you did want the world to know because you thought it would break me. Then you could take Stratosphere all for yourself.”

He shook his head slightly. “I fell in love with you because you’re unbreakable. It’s gonna take something a lot stronger than this story to chip away at you. My woman doesn’t bend. She doesn’t break. Not for anyone, not for me.”

It was painfully sweet, smooth all the way down. “Maybe you regret what you did, and you’re just trying to make up for it.”

“No. The only reason why I did it was to prove my loyalty to you. If I had done it, I just erased all its effectiveness. I threw my reputation, my own family, under the bus. We both know that doesn’t add up.”

I took another step back, hardly able to breathe.

“Baby.”

“Don’t call me that—”

“Baby.” His hands moved into my hair, and he crowded me, his body moving into mine. He pressed his forehead to mine and held me there, touching me, existing with me. “I know you’re scared. I know you’re hurt. But I swear on my mother’s grave, it wasn’t me. I’m a man who will always admit his faults. I’ll always be honest with you. If I made a mistake, I would say it. But I didn’t do this.”

My hands moved to his wrists, and I felt his steady heartbeat. I felt the prominent veins that were corded within his skin. I felt the tight muscle, the subtle shift every time he moved. I felt the heat that burned on the surface of his body. I closed my eyes, savoring the touch of this man.

Then he kissed me. Softly and sensually, his mouth moved against mine.

I kissed him back, my mind turned off and my body taking control. My tongue greeted his, and my mouth was flooded with his warm breath. I wanted to be loved by this man for the night. I wanted to be loved by this man all my life.

But I couldn’t.

I stepped back and ended the wet kiss. “Hunt, you should go.”

“No.”

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

The dark sexiness in his eyes disappeared as a shadow passed. His anger turned to fury, his fury to rage. “Titan, you’re better than this. Think it through. Don’t push me away when I belong right beside you. Don’t let them win.”

“I need to think about it.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes. I do.” I took another step back even though he wasn’t crowding me. He didn’t try to rush me again. He kept his distance this time, his anger keeping him back. “I understand everything that you said. I understand everything that’s happened. But this is complicated and doesn’t deserve a simple answer. Outside of Thorn and me, you were the only one who knew about what happened.”

“But—”

“Trust is the hardest thing for me to give. It comes naturally for most people, but for me, it’s like giving up my heart. I gave you my trust so quickly because it felt right. You stood up for me when other men wouldn’t. You admired me when most men would call me bossy. You swept me off my feet instantly. And that’s where everything went wrong…it happened too fast.”

“It didn’t happen fast enough, if you ask me.” His powerful arms hung by his sides, tense in the jacket that hugged his body. He showed a tense jaw, furrowed eyebrows. He was angry, but dangerously sexy at the same time.

“I don’t know you, Diesel Hunt.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I’ve known you for a few months. I’ve known Thorn for a decade.”

“Irrelevant.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted you so quickly. Now that this has happened, I can’t trust you again.”

“I. Didn’t. Do. It.”

“There’s no way for me to know. You’re doing and saying all the right things, but will I ever really know? I’m not a risk-taker. You know that. All the risks I’ve taken have cost me more than I bet in the first place. I learned my lesson the first time…and now I learned it again.”

“Don’t compare me to him.”

“That’s not how I meant it—”

“It sounded like it.”

“Bottom line is…I don’t trust you.” I looked him in the eye as I said, knowing he needed to understand I meant it. There was no explanation for how my past was leaked. Hunt had one story along with his own theories, but I couldn’t prove any of them. Unless the proof was right in front of me, it was unknown. “That’s not going to change. Everything is different. It’s too risky.”

“Baby—”

“I’m not going to change my mind, Hunt. I was scared to begin with, but now I’m too scared to give this another try. I’m afraid it’ll ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for. Thorn is safe. There’s no one in the world I trust more.”

His chest rose and fell at a quicker rate, the rage obvious in his eyes.

“You should go.”

He didn’t move. Like a mountain, he stood absolutely still and weathered the storm. His feet were firmly planted on the ground.

I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged myself, feeling the shot of pain all over again. The betrayal happened again in my mind, the raw cut that caused an open wound. I was still bleeding everywhere because I hadn’t had time to deal. It would be a scar eventually, the kind of scar everyone could see. “I don’t think we should do business together anymore, but if you leave me no choice…”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Hunt, nothing is going to change. We will only be business partners from now on…”

He gave me a hard stare.

I refused to say anything else, making my statement clear. Bringing the attention on to himself was touching. I’d have to be made of stone not to appreciate it. But it didn’t change the circumstance. Too much had changed. I didn’t feel the same way anymore. If I were to be with him again, I would constantly be paranoid. That wasn’t how a relationship should be. With Thorn, I would get everything I wanted—without heartbreak. “Please go, Hunt.”

He stayed rooted to the spot, the anger in his eyes changing to obvious disappointment. The burn in his expression fading to a painful stare. He slid his hands into his pockets, and he finally took a step back.

It hurt to watch him walk away.

He turned around, hit the button, and then stepped into the elevator.

He stared at me as the doors closed. They inched to the center until he was completely blocked from view. The elevator beeped before it began to descend.

I didn’t cry over anything. Crying was a waste of time and a waste of energy. But the tears built up in my eyes on their own, becoming thicker and heavier. My vision blurred, and I felt them streak down my cheeks. The last time I cried, I’d told Hunt I loved him.

And now I cried again when I told him goodbye.