The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,73

and hooking up with random guys. I tried not to think about it. Otherwise, I would never get out of bed again. “She’s taking on more assignments?”

“She asked for her old job back, actually.”

My heart stopped beating—literally.

Matt rubbed the back of his neck then looked at the door, waiting for Charlie to come back.

I was even more horrified than I was before. The breakup was hard enough to handle, but knowing she put herself back into the line of fire was sickening. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. I thought once she stepped down, someone else filled that spot and she wouldn’t be able to go backward.

Matt studied me for a bit, like he knew the blood was draining from all my extremities. “You okay, man?”

“No…I’m not.”

“You’ve been avoiding me all week.” Renee walked into my office even though my assistant tried to prevent her from stepping into my space. “What is your deal?”

Since the damage had been done, my assistant gave up.

Renee walked across the large room, her heels tapping against the hardwood. “Dax?”

I stared at her coldly, putting all the blame for my failed relationship on her shoulders. “Carson left me.”

She stilled at the edge of my desk, sincere pain moving into her eyes. “What happened?”

“What happened?” I said it with a slight chuckle, a dark tone that defied my laughter. I rose to my feet because I couldn’t sit anymore. “She came in to sign a prenup but ended up in the court of law. Were two thousand papers really necessary?”

“It’s a big company—”

“It was totally unnecessary. Carson told me she had no problem signing away her rights to everything—because she loved me and not my wallet. And now she’s gone—because we treated her like shit. The only woman who’s ever loved me for me is gone—because of you.” I’d never been so furious with my sister, never regarded with this level of disgust.

Speechless, Renee just stared at me.

I released a loud sigh then fell into my chair again. “Now, she’s back at her old position—which is probably going to get her killed. She moved her shit out of my penthouse, so I’m alone. She’s probably spending her nights doing god knows what while I stare at the ceiling all fucking night. We were never going to get a divorce anyway, so this was all fucking stupid. I lost her before I even had her. But thank god I have all our money…”

“Rose—”

“She’s not Rose.” My voice grew so loud, so quickly, making the walls vibrate. “No fucking comparison. Rose was a stupid mistake that I’ll always have to regret, but Carson was the one. I’ll never find another woman like that, so you’ve damned me to an eternity of fucking hell.”

Renee dropped her chin again. “Let me talk to her—”

“Don’t go anywhere near her, Renee. It’s done. You opening your stupid fucking mouth isn’t going to fix a goddamn thing.” My rage skyrocketed, and I knocked everything off my desk, my laptop smashing on the floor, the vase shattering into pieces. I got to my feet then turned to the window, unable to look at her stupid face for a moment longer. “Get the fuck out.”

I stepped into the office at the New York Press and walked across the floor to the editor’s office. My eyes scanned for Carson, but she wasn’t there.

But Charlie was.

He looked up from his desk, his confused eyes following me across the floor as I approached Vince’s office.

I knocked on the door before I let myself inside.

Vince was on the phone. “Yes, I’ll get someone on it. We’ll talk later.” He hung up then turned his gaze on me. “Who the fuck are you?”

I approached his desk with the check in my hand. I set it on the surface in front of him. “That’s all yours—if you do something for me.”

He looked down at the million-dollar check—made out to cash—and then lifted his gaze to look at me.

“Keep Carson off the dangerous stuff, and that’s yours.”

Without looking at it again, he pushed the check back across the desk to me. “If you think people haven’t tried to buy me off before, you obviously know nothing about the newspaper business. And frankly, I’ve been offered a lot more to do a lot less. Your money doesn’t impress me. We’re the most respected paper in the country because we care about the truth. Integrity, honesty, hard work, those are the values that matter to us—not money. Pay off your executives and your