Roman-2(Lane Brothers, Book 5)(192)

Thomas cut her off. “You lied.”

There was no come back. “Yes.”

“You lied.”

“I know. Can we just wipe the slate clean and start afresh. Living that crazy life before made us do stupid things. But with you quitting acting we can be normal again. We can do things the right way.”

But Thomas wasn’t listening. He looked stunned. He stood slowly. “You made me believe I was crazy for doubting you.”

“Thomas, please…” Sasha began.

“This was all a disaster,” he said, hypnotically. “From start to finish. I should never have pursued you. This… this was all a huge mistake.”

He strode to the door. Sasha leapt up and grabbed his hand before he opened it. “Thomas, it’s not over. Not like this. We work together. It’s the rest of the world that’s driving us apart.”

Thomas shook his head. “Not this time, Sasha. This time you did it all on your own.”





Chapter Twenty One




Sasha left the hotel and headed for her small apartment. She’d lost Thomas. After everything they’d been through, it was really over.

Her apartment was cold. It felt unloved. She closed the curtains and curled up on the sofa.

She had hundreds of calls and texts she needed to answer, but right now, she had to see what the media were saying. She couldn’t help it. It felt like a compulsion. All the time she’d been with Thomas, she’d felt protected, like it didn’t matter what the world thought of her. But now he was gone she had to know.

She logged on and began scrolling. Pippa had been right about one thing - the engagement had more or less buried the leaked sex tape scandal. But the fact the engagement was a charade had also made the gossip pages. Someone had sold them out. It could have been anyone - the security guards, the driver, Tina or Joe, or anyone else at Amore. There were plenty of people who’d sell their story to make a couple hundred quick dollars.

Sasha’s phone began ringing. She didn’t recognize the number. She hit receive.

“Hello?”

“Sasha, darling, it’s Pippa.”

Sasha’s blood ran cold. “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to let you know that Christopher’s interview will be on television tomorrow. It’s going to be explosive. He’s telling everyone all about your affair.”

Suddenly, it dawned on Sasha. “It was you who told him to do this, wasn’t it?”

“A little tip, sweetheart,” Pippa said coldly. “Get a password for your phone.”

“You stole his number?”

“After you told me about Thomas thinking you’d had an affair, I couldn’t resist. I thought it might come in handy if you ever tried to backstab me.” She spoke in a syrupy sweet voice, one that made Sasha feel nauseous. “When I said you were going to become a reviled woman, I meant it. No one crosses me, Sasha. No one.”

With that, the phone went dead. Sasha sat staring at it in her lap.





Chapter Twenty Two



Keys poised in her hand, Sasha Jones stood at the front door of her mother’s home. She was trembling, making the keys jangle in one hand and the suitcase she was holding quiver in the other. She knew her mother would always welcome her in, but she still couldn’t help but feel nervous.

With a deep breath, she turned the key and stepped inside.

The familiar smell of her childhood home made emotion roll through her. Her mother, Julia, was on the shabby, old, floral sofa, facing the television. The wheelchair she needed to use to get around because of her MS was beside her.

“Hello, Mom,” Sasha said.

Julia turned her head to look over her shoulder. She smiled sympathetically. “Welcome home, sweetheart.”

Though Sasha had known—deep down—that her mother would always support her, it came as a huge relief to see the love and kindness on her face, and to know, at last, without a doubt, that she was accepted here no matter what. She burst into tears, dropped her suitcase, and bustled into the living room towards her mother. Once she reached her, Sasha flung herself onto the sofa and buried her head into the crook of her mother’s shoulder, feeling markedly younger than her twenty-three years.

“I messed up,” she gasped between sobs. “I messed everything up.”

Julia shushed her daughter and smoothed down her hair. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Do you think you’re the first girl to get duped by a man?” She chuckled. “It’s a story as old as time.”

Sasha sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. “But it wasn’t any man, Mom. It was Thomas Lloyd.”

Just saying his name sent echoes of pleasure rippling down Sasha’s spine. The English actor had been the only man to show her what it really felt like to be a woman. He’d shown her what her body was capable of and taken it to heights of joy to which she never knew it could be taken. He’d whisked her to the other side of the globe, taken her to glitzy events, and given her orgasm after explosive orgasm.