Free Rebellion (A Dangerous Man, #2) by Serena Grey

plays dirty.” She pauses,
“of course it wasn’t enough to him to win, he had to marry a green little
country rat from the backwater to teach me a lesson.”
    Her words touch me. Wasn’t that the answer to the question I
had been asking myself all this time. ‘Why did David marry me?’
    “You know I’m right,” she gives me a measuring look. “Be
careful Sophie, David is a dangerous man, he won’t hesitate to toss you away as
soon he’s be done with you.”
    “I don’t believe you.” I say with false bravado.
    “Believe what you want.” She shakes her head “Who cares,
just don’t get too comfortable in his life, you’ll be alone as soon as he gets
tired of all that,” she gestures in the general direction of my body.
    I search my head for a retort, but she has already swung out
of the room.
    It’s only after she has gone that I realize that my fists
are clenched so tight, my nails are cutting into the skin of my palms. I don’t
want to believe the things she’s said, but deep down, I know she’s telling the
truth.

Chapter Seven
    W HEN I LEAVE THE LADIES ROOM, all I want to do is find David
and make him deny the things Carole said to me. He’s not in the ballroom, and
the dining room is already empty. I go in the direction of a wide stairway that
leads from the ballroom to a mezzanine floor, where there are some chairs and
many French doors that lead to a long balcony.
    David’s not anywhere on the mezzanine floor either, I’m
about to turn back down the stairs when I decide to check outside.
    The balcony runs along the whole length of the hotel and is filled
with different species of potted plants. There are a few people close to the
doors, mostly smoking and conversing. I decide to walk a little further, mainly
because, there is a cool breeze coming from the sea.
    I take only a few steps before I see them.
    Carole has her hands on David arm, and she’s saying
something to him, her expression full of passion. I freeze on the spot, unable
to take my eyes off them.
    I can only see David’s back, but he seems to be listening to
her, whatever it is that she’s saying. Suddenly she pulls his face down and
starts to kiss him.
    I stand there waiting for him to push her away, but he
doesn’t. When I can’t look anymore, I turn on my heel and rush back into the
hotel. I hurry down the stairs, feeling an actual pain in my chest. It’s heavy
and aching, and it’s spreading all over my body. I need to get away from here.
Away from him.
    At the lobby, I ask for a cab. It only takes a few minutes
before one arrives. I look back only once to see if maybe David has noticed
that I’m gone, but I suppose he’s too busy reconciling with his old love.
    I can’t shake the image of them kissing from my head, in my
mind it turns to something else, and I can almost see him making love to her.
The thoughts fill me with a desperate sadness. I want to go back and pull her
off him. I want to do many things, but I know there’s only one thing I should
do.
    When I get to the apartment, I find my bags, the one that
came with me from Ashford. I pack my sketchpad, and my old clothes. I don’t
want to take anything of his. I don’t want to take anything that will remind me
of this life. I hear my phone ringing in my purse, but I ignore it, I’m not
interested in whatever it is he has to say. I’m zipping the last bag closed
when the door bursts open and David walks in.
    He looks worried, but then he takes in the bags on the bed,
the tears on my face, and his expression changes to steel. “What are you
doing?” he asks slowly.
    “What does it look like?” I retort without pausing.
    “I left you for a few moments at a party, and now you’re
leaving me?”
    “You left me for far longer than a few minutes, to make out
with your old girlfriend.” I throw the words at him, angry at the tears that
are filling my eyes.
    “So now you’re running off back to Ashford,” The hardness
in his voice intensifies almost