A Touch of Temptation(59)

“What was I supposed to do?”

“You are supposed to fight for yourself. You shouldn’t have let her cowardly decision have so much power over you. You always fought for me. You stood up to Dad every time he came at me. Why do you think you deserve any less?”

Kim’s tears ran over her cheeks as she stared at Liv. She had no answer. It was what she was doing again with Diego. Instead of fighting for herself—fighting for her love— instead of fighting for her babies she was walking away to protect herself.

So what if he didn’t love her? So what if he only wanted their marriage to work for the sake of the children? He took care of her, he pampered her, he understood her stubbornness and he had stood by her when she had been crumbling. It was more affection than she had ever received from anyone.

She scrubbed her cheeks and grabbed the papers from the table. “You’re right. I am going to fight for myself.” Her stomach churned with fear, but she couldn’t let it stop her now. Her fingers shaking, she tore the documents Liv had brought into so many pieces. “Can you please call Alex? I need transportation.”

Her eyes wide, Liv laughed as she followed her into her bedroom. Kim plucked at her suitcase, which she still hadn’t emptied, opened it, threw the clothes into a pile and started throwing others in. Mostly shorts and tank tops, nightwear.

She slipped her laptop into its case, tucked in the power cord, followed by her cell phone charger and her wallet. She quickly called her assistant, informed her of her travel plans and hung up while the woman was still struggling to grapple with what she’d just been told.

After three years of non-stop work, Kim knew her team was obviously surprised that she was now taking vacations so frequently. But they were an expertly trained team, and she could do her job from wherever Diego was just as easily as she could in New York.

She made another call to her VP of Operations and informed her she should start a headhunt for another CEO. Effective immediately, she was going to cut down her hours. And when the time came she would need maternity leave, too.

Excitement mixed with fear thrummed through her veins, making her a little light-headed.

Liv stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Whoa...Kim.... Slow down.” Her mobile mouth was frozen in shock. “Wow, you’re really doing this.”

“Yep, and I can’t stop, Liv,” she said, walking back into the kitchen and throwing her multivitamins into her handbag. “I have to keep moving, I have to get on a plane before I start thinking. Diego was right. I should get a device that stops my brain from overthinking.”

“He said that?”

Kim nodded, the memory of his smile lending her courage.

“Alex’s pilot should be ready in half an hour. Do you want me to come with you? Bring Alexander to take on Diego?”

A laugh barreled out of her and Kim kissed Liv’s cheek. Hugged her again.

“No. I’m going to be fine. Whether in the name of revenge or my pregnancy, Diego always fought for us.” She had to believe that and she had to do the same. “If he hadn’t cared he could have sued for custody. After all the things I told him he still trusted me enough, believed in me enough, that I would love our children. He’s fought for our relationship with everything he has in him. Now it’s time I do the same.” She clasped Liv’s hands in hers, her throat closing up again. “We’re good, aren’t we?”

Liv nodded and kissed her cheek again. “Of course. Whatever happens, you always have me.”





CHAPTER FOURTEEN


DIEGO HAD NO idea how long he had been pushing himself in the huge state-of-the-art gym that he’d had specially built on the island. His muscles groaned under the rigor he was putting himself through. It felt as if his flesh had morphed into points of torture and then turned inward.

But he couldn’t stop. He hadn’t been able to stop for the past week, since Kim had left. He had flown back and forth to New York within a day, worked from morning to evening and then punished himself with a brutal workout each evening, so that when he went to bed he hoped to be so exhausted that sleep came.

It hadn’t worked. Even with his body turning into a bruising pulp he couldn’t fall asleep. He was beginning to feel like a ticking bomb.

The days stretched torturously ahead of him, with memories of Kim pricking into him wherever he turned.

He was beginning to hate the island, after everything he had done to own it.

He’d seen Miguel and Anna poke their heads in a couple of times at the entrance to the gym.

They were worried about him. He got that. But nothing could puncture his need for physical pain right now. Nothing else could numb the emptiness he felt inside.