Beautiful Revenge (A Good Wife #1) - Sienna Blake Page 0,68

had only remembered my writings after I left the mansion. I couldn’t bear the idea of turning back and begging Dimitri for them. He would only use it as a way to hurt me, probably tearing the pages to shreds or burning them in front of me.

“Did you come to return it?” I frown. He doesn’t have my manuscript with him. Just a small envelope I hadn’t noticed he was holding before.

“Something… hopefully even better.” He hands me the envelope.

It has my name on the front. “What’s this?” I open it and take out the single sheet of paper inside.

“I thought your manuscript was…inspired. I took the liberty of …” The rest of his words go fuzzy as I read over the first line of the letter.

Dear Alena,

We happily offer you a publishing contract for your book, Beautiful Revenge.

The rest of the letter turns into a pool of white and black. My mouth goes dry. My heart hammers in my ears. This is not possible.

I look up to Javier. He has a broad expectant smile on his face. Could he be so cruel as to manufacture a joke like this?

I am almost terrified to ask. “Is this…real?”

“Very real.”

“I can’t… You…” Words fail me. I do the only thing I can. I throw myself into his arms.

He laughs even as I nearly squeeze the life out of him. “You deserve it, Alena.”

I pull back from him, wiping under my eyes. “Oh, Javier, you are the most wonderful man. I can’t believe you would do this for me.”

He shuffles uncomfortably. There’s a sliver of guilt in his eyes. Some whole truth not told.

“Or did Dimitri…?” My voice cracks a little at his name.

“He doesn’t know,” Javier says. “I did this behind his back.”

I sag a little. That’s why Javier looked guilty. He is hiding this from Dimitri. “Are his businesses going well? No, I don’t care about that. Is he okay? I mean, is he still angry? Is he…happy?”

Javier tilts his head. “He has found…a kind of peace.”

I nod, sadness welling up inside me. Dimitri was the first person I ever told about my dream to be a writer. He was the first person I ever let read my writing and the first to encourage me. I wish more than anything that he could be the first person I told. He would understand just how much this means to me.

I brush off this sadness. I can’t dwell on the past. I’m going to be published. I am going to be a writer!

Tears of happiness rim my eyes again. I press the offer letter to my chest. “Thank you, Javier, from the bottom and the top and all the widths of my heart, thank you.”

He grins. “You’re welcome. But you haven’t read the best bit.”

“What bit?” I snatch the paper from my chest, holding it out so I can read it again.

Javier laughs. “The bit about your advance.”

My eyes scan the page. I find it…that magical number…

Holy shit.

A week later, my publishing contract is signed. Tonight, Emily is out with a friend she’s made from work. I’m home alone with Edgar. I knock on his bedroom door and enter when he calls for me to come in. I hold two very important pieces of paper in my hands.

He’s sitting at his cramped desk shoved in the corner of his tiny bedroom. “Oh, Alena,” he says when he sees it’s me. His eyes are twinkling with more life than I’ve seen in them for months. “I have such news to tell you.”

“Of course, Edgar, but me first.”

I hand him the divorce papers I had drawn up and he lowers his reading glasses onto his nose. “You and I have never been in love,” I start to say what I spent hours preparing. “I think we owe it to each other to find someone who can make us happy.”

Edgar lowers the divorce papers and opens his mouth.

“Please let me finish,” I say, before he can interrupt. “I know that I haven’t fulfilled the terms of my marriage contract. I’m offering to buy you out.” I take a deep breath and hand over the second piece of paper—a check for the amount he paid for me.

A hundred thousand pounds.

His mouth drops open. “Alena… how…?”

“It’s the exact amount of my publishing advance,” I say quietly. I still have my job in administration, this cottage is cheap. I can support Emily and me until the royalties come in. Besides, this is just the beginning. For the first time