The Coldest Man in the Room Melted Only for Me novel Chapter 67

She ignored it completely, letting it ring out. Once the violent sobs finally subsided into empty hiccups, she sat up, wiped her ruined face with a tissue, and picked up her phone from the center console.

Seeing that she hadn't answered, Pierce had sent a text: [Where are you? I thought you were waiting for me.]

So he was back at the house.

Staring at the screen, Riley thought of the countless nights she had stayed awake waiting for him after Manager Walsh called him away, only for him to never come home.

She had waited so many times that it had become horrifyingly normal.

She had genuinely grown accustomed to him abandoning her in the middle of the night.

She had been lonely and bitter, but she had blindly accepted it because she believed he was building their empire.

But now...

It was all a grotesque lie.

There were no late-night corporate emergencies.

It was entirely fabricated!

And who exactly was Manager Walsh?

Riley already knew the sickening answer.

She dropped her phone and stared blankly into the dark street until her shattered nerves froze into absolute numbness. Reaching up, she flipped down the sun visor mirror.

Her reflection was a nightmare of bloodshot, swollen eyes and tear-stained skin.

It was painfully obvious she had been sobbing hysterically.

She slapped her cheeks lightly to force some color back into them, took a deep, shuddering breath, snapped the visor up, and drove back to Golden Sands Cove.

When she walked into the villa, she found Pierce sitting on the couch, entirely engrossed in his phone. He was smiling warmly at the screen, looking so incredibly happy that he didn't even notice her enter.

He gripped her hands tighter, his eyes filled with genuine anxiety. "Riley, you're scaring me. Tell me what happened."

Riley looked down at their intertwined fingers. "My brother got himself into some trouble. I went to handle it."

"What kind of trouble? Is it serious? Do you need me to step in?"

He fired off the questions rapidly, his panic completely authentic. Riley looked back up into his eyes. His desperate concern for her was entirely real.

He actually cared about her.

How could one man hold two different women in his heart at the exact same time?

"It's handled," she said quietly, sliding her hands out of his grasp. "I'm going to bed." She walked toward the stairs.

Pierce watched her retreat. "I thought you wanted to talk to me?"