Chapter 7
There was a time when Connor would’ve been thrilled to see Sienna acting this way. Even if he couldn’t stand by her side as her husband, he could still soak up the possessive affection she showered him, as though she were his wife.
But this time, as he found himself in the same situation, a faint twinge of annoyance flickered inside him. Almost without thinking, he moved his thigh just enough to create some distance between them.
Sienna didn’t miss the slight shift in movement. She pulled her hand back quickly, her expression dropping in an instant.
“Connor, pull over. I want to get out,” she said.
Sienna had always had a tendency for these little, sulky displays.
of
money would’ve been enough to patch things up.
Connor knew that it was her way of showing she was upset. In the past, a few comforting words or the transfer of a hefty sum
But now, he realized that he didn’t have the patience for it. He steered the car to the side of the road and hit the brakes.
He turned to Sienna, who looked shocked. He then said coolly, “Go ahead. I’ve got pressing matters to deal with. I don’t have time for this.” Siema had never seen Connor behave so coldly before and was completely thrown by it. But the slight hint of detachment in his
yes made it clear that he meant every bit of it. The man who had always treated her like she was everything now left her feeling deeply hurt. It was more than she could take. She turned, snatched her bag from the back seat, and exited the car.
As the door shut behind her, Sienna couldn’t help but hope that Connor would say something to make things right. Instead, he hit the gas and left her with nothing but the fading taillights of his car as he disappeared into the distance.
After Sienna exited the car, Connor felt an unexpected wave of relief wash over him. He grabbed his phone and started dialing Hannah over and over, but each time, the automated voice on the other end told him that her phone was turned off.
His mind wandered back to the early days of his marriage to Hannah. One day, he had come home drunk after a business dinner, with Arthur helping him to the door.
Hannah had rested her head on his shoulder and said, “Connor, next time something like this happens, call me, okay? You’ve got a wife From that day onward, Hannah kept her phone on, solely for him.
now,
remember?”
The streets of Jorvaska were always empty in the dead of night, and time after time, Hannah had gone out in the middle of the night to take him home after he’d drunk himself into a stupor. Everyone in their circle admired Connor for having such a devoted wife, but he hadn’t given it much thought. His heart had been completely wrapped up in Sienna, the woman he yearned for but could never truly have.
He’d even talked himself into believing that Hannah must have married him for his status and money, even though she had spent less in their three years of marriage than Sienna blew through in a single day.
Hannah had never dragged him into her family’s affair, and ever since they had tied the knot, he’d never once reached out to her parents, who lived an ocean away.
The traffic light ahead suddenly flipped to red, and Connor stomped on the brakes, jerking the car to a sharp stop in the middle of the road. He shook his head, confused by how these scattered memories had come rushing back all at once.
His eyes landed on the Searle Group building glowing in the distance, and he snapped out of it. This wasn’t the time to get lost in the past.
The moment his car rolled through the gates of Searle Group, Connor was stunned by what he saw. Every media outlet, large and small, in Jorvaska, had seemed to station themselves there.
His car was a dead giveaway to the reporters. Even some rookie from the smallest gossip rag would recognize it in a heartbeat. In seconds, he was mobbed by a crowd of reporters.
Arthur was frantically trying to fight his way through to shield him, but the crowd was too thick. No matter how loud Arthur yelled, he couldn’t move an inch.
