Free Redemption in Love (Hearts on the Line) by Nadia Lee

Amandine’s bombshell announcement at La Mer. Had she already moved into one of the guest bedrooms? He’d rather bet a billion dollars in the currency market than find that out.
    Really? That’s all there is to it?
    No. For once, he was actually scared. He didn’t know what to do to convince Amandine to stay with him. He realized that she hadn’t been exaggerating at lunch. She truly wanted to get rid of him.
    Grovel
, Mark had said, but Gavin didn’t know how. He’d already apologized. Did he need to get on his knees? Shed a tear or two?
    Ugh. That would only serve to make him look pitiful and ensure Amandine would immediately run to her attorney to finalize their divorce.
    He needed something better than “groveling” to get his wife back. The problem was he didn’t know exactly what that was yet.
    Gavin checked his email for the tenth time and voice mail for the twentieth. Catherine still hadn’t returned any of his messages, damn her. His wedding ring was still at her place, and he wanted it back. He knew the ring was one of the reasons why Amandine was so mad.
    Should he fly to Houston and get it himself? Or would that upset Amandine even further, since she obviously didn’t want him spending any more time with Catherine?
    Hilary could go…
Assuming Catherine was still in Houston, of course.
    His office door opened, and his brother-in-law Pete Monroe stuck his head in. “Wanna split some Chinese?”
    Gavin was about to say no, but then he caught a whiff of lo mein and his stomach rumbled. “Sure.”
    Pete came in with a big white plastic bag stuffed with paper plates, chopsticks and boxes of noodles, rice, chicken and beef and set things up on the coffee table. His hair wasn’t golden like Amandine’s. From what Gavin heard, Pete got the dark hair of the Fairchilds through his mother, but his blue eyes and height from his father. Luckily, since the Fairchilds were short.
    Gavin took the plate Pete offered and stared at the amount of food Pete had spread out. “You usually eat this much?”
    “No, but I thought you might want some. I didn’t see you grab any dinner earlier.”
    He hadn’t had lunch either. It was difficult to have a decent appetite after his wife had told him she wanted to leave him. “How long have you been here? About two years?”
    “Actually, a little over three.”
    Gavin nodded. Pete was one of the brightest young analysts working for him. Would he lose Pete as well if Amandine insisted on divorce? “Why did you choose to work for me? You could’ve gone anywhere. Goldreich, Sterling & Wilson…even Europe.”
    Pete stopped in the middle of shoveling sweet and sour chicken into his mouth and considered the question. “Well. You offered to mentor me.”
    Gavin waved his chopsticks. “Everyone says that.”
    “Yeah, but no one else is married to my sister. I figured you’d actually keep your promise.”
    “I see.” Gavin’s chopsticks brushed a broccoli floret in the beef dish; he pushed it to the side. Only his mother’s disapproving gaze could make him eat the cruciferous thing. “What would you do if Amandine and I weren’t married? Would you quit?”
    A laugh trembled out of Pete. “W-What?”
    “If we were to divorce.”
    “That’s” —Pete took a big gulp of his Coke— “ridiculous. She’s crazy about you.”
    Gavin bit into the beef and took his time chewing the meat. “How can you be so confident? About her feelings, I mean.” If it turned out that Pete somehow had the power to read Amandine’s mind, Gavin would quadruple his salary.
    “I know my sister. She’s such a romantic, she would never have agreed to marry you if she didn’t love you. Believe me, she adores you,” he said, his voice firm, almost forceful. “The only way your marriage will fall apart is if you decide to leave.”
    Gavin wanted to laugh. Pete clearly had no idea his sister wanted a divorce. Or maybe he was confusing his devotion to his job with his sister’s to her