I got everything in order with the house and my business. Ysabelle seemed to be one step ahead of me, since everything was being taken care of at Chances. This was premeditated and I couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been that way. I took the next flight out. I knew exactly where she went and tried like hell to control my temper, but as soon as I shoved those double-sided doors open into Madam’s office…

I was fucking furious.

“Miss Ysabelle, I am sorry. He charged through as soon as I opened the door. I couldn’t stop him. Would you like me to call the police?”

I cocked my head at her, daring her to reply with what she was thinking.

She shook her head. “No, Hector, I have it under control. I’m sorry for his rude introduction. Thank you; you’re excused,” she announced, fitting every part of the role she was portraying.

It made me sick.

It made me want to hurt her. Badly.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I seethed.

“Calm down, okay? I don’t want to fight,” she argued.

“Well, you have a fucking shitty way of showing it. You leave me a Dear John letter after the night we shared and I’m expected to be fucking ecstatic that I find you in Satan’s office, looking like a whore?”

Her eyes widened. “Jesus…Sebastian.”

“Explain. NOW!”

“I’m not going to talk to you when you’re like this. We can talk when you’ve calmed down.”

I was over to her in four strides and she immediately backed away from me. Frightened.

“What the fuck? You’re scared of me?”

“No, of course not. But when you get like this, it’s overwhelming and it’s instinctual to back away from a bull.”

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. Now, fucking tell me! Why are you back here? What are you doing?”

“I just needed a break, Sebastian!” she yelled, throwing her hands in the air.

“A break from me? A break from us?”

She urgently nodded. “Yes. A break from everything. I wasn’t planning on coming back here—it was a coincidence. Madam is in the—”

“I don’t give a flying fuck if Madam is in the goddamn morgue and you’re here to plan the funeral.”

“Oh my God, Sebastian. What is wrong with you?”

That did it. The fact that she was blowing me off like I was the bad guy was too much to take and I reacted. I pushed her up against the wall and caged her in, with each arm on each side of her body. 

“You want to try that again? I fucking dare you.”

She gulped. “I understand why you’re upset.”

“You don’t understand shit and you don’t respect me. You wouldn’t be here if you did.”

“She needed help. I’m here to help,” she reasoned.

“Help sell your pussy? That’s what you’re helping with, right? See who the highest bidder is this time? You’ve been gone for a while, must be great for clients and sales,” I viscously spewed.

Her mouth dropped open. “Fuck you!” she roared, slapping me across the face. Hard. “I’m not here to be a VIP. I’m here to help keep everything in order,” she said through gritted teeth.

I opened my mouth, swaying my jaw around from her unexpected blow and found her intense stare.

“Just because you call it a VIP doesn’t make it anything other than selling your goddamn soul to the devil. You’ve done it before and you got away, why on earth would you come back to this place? Why?” I raged, wanting answers.

“Because this is my home,” she simply stated, knocking me on my ass.

It was like taking a bullet directly to the heart. Nothing had ever hurt me more than those five words. I backed away from her for her sake…and mine.

“Sebastian…” She promptly grabbed my arm, holding me in place. “I didn’t mean it the way it came out. You’re my home, but this is like my parents’ house…okay…can you understand that? She’s the only mother I’ve ever known. I’m here to help until she gets well.”

“And then what?” I immediately countered.

“I wish I could tell you. You wanted me to stop running, I am. This is me, not running and being honest. I just need some time,” she justified.

My head fell back from laughing. “This is you not running?” I emphasized with my hands in her face. “That’s exactly what you’re fucking doing. You want to hurt me or else you wouldn’t be here.”

“That’s not true!” 

“Prove it. You want space…I’ll give you the motherfucking equator; leave here and I’ll send you wherever you want to go. You can take your space or your goddamn break, but NOT here. I’ll leave you alone, Ysa. I promise you. Please…leave here. I’m begging you. You want me down on my knees, groveling for you to leave here? I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever it takes. Just go.”

She hesitated. “I gave her my word.”

“Yeah…well you gave me your heart. So where does that leave us?”

“Please don’t do this,” she murmured.

I placed my hand on her neck in a possessive gesture, running my thumb up and down her windpipe. “I thought watching you with another man at The Gala was the worst memory of my life. Not Olivia.” I paused to let my words sink in. “I let you believe that because I didn’t want to talk about that night. I’d much rather have you believe that her dying was my worst memory.”

Her eyes watered and her lip started trembling. I moved my hand to the nook of her neck and traced her quivering lip with my thumb. “This. Right now. Me looking at you, dressed like that. Seeing you in this office. Holding you but not feeling you.” I pulled her toward me and she stumbled on her heels, placing her hands on my chest for balance. I placed my mouth near her ear. “It’s my worst memory,” I whispered and she instantly broke down crying.

I kissed the side of her face where her tears were streaming.

And spun around, not looking at her.

I couldn’t see what my heart already knew.

She was a VIP.