The Other Side of Greed (The Seven Sins #5) - Lily Zante Page 0,104

a little giggle. Simona’s face lightens up. “I love artwork, and this is so thoughtful of you both.”

I shrug. “She sent invitations. Champagne and canapes and art. We thought you might like it.”

She touches my cheek, and gives it a little pull, as if I am one of her young grandkids. “I already love it.”

“Good, because we’re going to indulge ourselves in here and then we’ll go to dinner,” I tell her.

“You’re spoiling me,” she says, looking like an excited child as I open the door for her to go in.

The moment we walk inside, we are greeted with glasses of champagne.

“Got any beer?” Fredrich asks.

Simona looks around in delight. “I’ve never been here.”

“No?” I ask, looking around for the Brad lookalike. I want to see him so that I can convince myself that it’s someone else. So that I can set my heart to rest.

“This is disgusting stuff.” Fredrich makes a face as he sips his beer.

“Try the champagne,” Simona says. “It’s divine.”

Fredrich sidles up to me. “How do we do this? Do we just look around?” But my gaze is pinned on a tall brunette woman. And then I see Brad. At least I think it’s Brad.

It’s Brad looking…different. Brad with Jessica hanging onto his arm for dear life. Jessica, introducing him to people. Jessica staring up at him as if he’s been in bed with her all weekend instead of me.

My heart splinters on its downward spiral, and the cold, hard truth laughs back at me. This is the man I spent the weekend falling in love with.

Fredrich splutters. “That is Brad,” he roars. “You said he couldn’t make it.” He looks at me accusingly.

“That’s what he told me.”

“He must have a twin,” Fredrich counters. “For all we know, he could have, because we don’t know anything about the guy.” For a nano-second, I entertain the idea. Until recently, I knew nothing about Brad. He was a mystery to me, but ever since our weekend, ever since he showed me his condo and opened his heart to me, I’ve seen the other side to him.

The man I told never to cheat on me because my heart had already been broken by it.

I suddenly waver. The floor beneath me seems to tilt and my heart hits the ground, a few seconds after my insides empty.

Him and Jessica Montrose. As if a montage flows before my eyes, I recall city hall and that woman sticking by my side wanting to know things.

And yet, it doesn’t make sense.

None of it.

We stare across the floor at him with Jessica who holds a group of men, Brad included, captivated.

There is no denying those eyes, that jaw, those lips.

It’s him.

As if he can sense us staring and talking about him, he looks up, and his smooth unlined face suddenly drains of color. There can’t be more than a few yards between us. I see his features clearly, while my heart hammers and my breath catches in my dry-as-sand throat.

Brad’s gaze locks and battles with mine.

“What’s he doing with her?” Simona asks, sounding as shocked as I feel broken.

I can’t pretend I haven’t seen him.

I need to hear it from his mouth.

I need to know.

There’s only an arm’s length of distance between us. I stare at him in disbelief. In the picosecond of time which flashes and disappears, I realize that so much of my time with this man has been made up of so many moments of disbelief.

“What are you doing?” Simona cries as I walk towards them. Brad stares at me, pain and confusion are etched in his somber eyes.

Jessica holds onto Brad possessively. “Kyra, how lovely of you to come.” Her face lights up as if I’ve given her a check for twenty million dollars. The smile is plastic. “Brandon, you’ve met Kyra before, haven’t you?”

Brandon?

He can’t speak and this gives me a sliver of comfort. Time halts and freezes like a bitter chill, icing the blood in my veins. I sense Simona and Fredrich at my side as the other men in the group discreetly disappear.

“Dude, fancy meeting you here,” Fredrich says, breaking the icy mood. “I didn’t think this was your kinda place. It’s not mine either...”

Brad doesn’t speak. No one does. Silence slam dunks into my net of despair. The moment is a dystopian nightmare flashing through my head like a torch over a grave of dead bodies.

He prepared me for this, so I shouldn’t be surprised as my glance sweeps over his watch, a great big, vulgar