The Lone Wolf

  The Lone Wolf

  Wolf #3

  Penelope Sky

  Hartwick Publishing

  The Lone Wolf

  Copyright © 2019 by Penelope Sky

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  1

  Arwen

  I had one of the servants pack my things into suitcases and carry them downstairs.

  The only thing I left behind was my pink dress—because I never wanted to look at it again. It would only remind me of the night my husband broke my heart. It would remind me of the night I put my heart on the line and lost my only family.

  I gave my bedroom a final look before I walked out forever.

  I made it to the front of the house where my black BMW was parked. In the divorce settlement, I didn’t ask for anything besides my car and some cash to start my life over. It was only a few thousand euros, just enough to get me an apartment until I picked up a second job bartending or waitressing.

  Those bimbos obviously wanted him for his money, but I never had.

  If Maverick wanted to continue to be used by women who didn’t give a damn about him, that was fine with me.

  His loss.

  By the time I made it to the car, Maverick had exited the grand front doors and walked down the path toward me. In dark jeans and a gray t-shirt, he looked as beautiful as ever—but I didn’t see him that way anymore.

  My trunk and back seat were stuffed with my things. Now all I had to do was drive away and forget this period of my life. My first marriage lasted less than a year. Hopefully, my second one would be more impressive.

  “Arwen.” He caught my attention before I opened the door and got inside the car.

  My hand stayed on the handle, but I didn’t get inside. The winter breeze was cold, and the ground was muddy from the rain we got the night before. Boots were on my feet, and my jeans kept me warm from the frigid air. With sunglasses on the bridge of my nose, I looked at him. “I’ll come by and pick up the papers in a week.” I opened the door.

  He came around the front then forced it to shut under his palm. “What are you doing?”

  “What am I doing?” I asked incredulously. “I’m leaving your ass. That’s what I’m doing.” I grabbed the handle again.

  This time, he blocked it with his body so I couldn’t get inside. “That’s not what we agreed on.”

  I laughed because it was such a stupid thing to say. “There’s a lot of other things we didn’t agree on, too.” I pushed him in the chest. “Get the hell out of my way. I owe you a slap, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

  He stood his ground because a threat like that couldn’t scare him. “What are you going to do? Where are you going to live?”

  “You aren’t my husband anymore, so don’t worry about it.”

  “I am still your husband.”

  My smart mouth wouldn’t quit today. “You weren’t my husband last night.”

  He kept up his stony expression.

  “Seriously, get the hell out of my way. The last thing I want to do is look at that stupid face of yours. Kamikaze is dead, so I don’t need you anymore.”

  “My father is still out there.”

  “I’m not afraid of that old pussy.” I pushed him again, but he didn’t budge. “I can take care of myself.”

  He slid his hands into his pockets.

  “Move.”

  He stood his ground.

  I rolled my eyes then walked around the car to the other side. I crawled in through the passenger door then locked all the doors so he couldn’t yank me out of it.

  He turned around and banged his fist on the window. “Arwen.”

  I started the engine and put the car in drive. Then I rolled down the window. “I don’t want to be married to you, Maverick. You’re the last man I want in my bed. You’re the last man I want to look at every day. I’m a big girl who can take care of herself, so don’t worry about me.”

  “Then you should take some more money.”

  The offer was offensive. I shook my head slightly. “I’m the only woman in the world who doesn’t give a damn about your money. It can buy you pretty things, but it can’t buy you happiness. I’d rather work my ass off for my shit then take a coin from you.” My foot hit the gas, and I drove off, his visage fading in the rearview mirror as I drove farther away. I hit the button and made the window roll back up and kept on going, the entire contents of my life packed in that car with me.

  I drove to the edge of the property and reached the main road. The house was still visible in my rearview mirror, and I could see him standing where I’d left him. With his hands in his pockets and his eyes on my car, he waited to see me drive away for the last time.

  I turned the steering wheel and hit the gas. “Goodbye, Wolf.”

  I got a furnished apartment. It was small with a single bedroom and a kitchen that was also the dining room. I could only fit a single couch, and my bedroom was only big enough for a queen bed and a single nightstand.

  It wasn’t luxurious, but at least it was home.

  Now that I was really on my own, the weight of everything hit me so damn hard.

  Like a pile of bricks had been dropped on my head—and my heart.

  I sat the kitchen table with a bottle of white wine as a friend. My lips sealed around the edge of the bottle as I took a large drink. The booze burned my throat and made my stomach tight, but it didn’t numb my heartbreak.

  I could have ignored his actions if I wanted to keep living there. Most women would probably do that. Keep a cheating husband as long as they got to be rich. But since I loved that cheating husband…that wasn’t an option for me.

  I sat in the dark and let the tears come to the surface. It was the first time I’d allowed myself to feel the harsh pain. I’d been choking it back up until this point, but now that it was really over, I let myself feel it.

  It was like a hammer to the gut.

  Tears sprung from my eyes and streaked down my cheeks. My sobs echoed in the small kitchen as I replayed that moment in my head. He walked up the stairs with those two girls at his sides, intending to fuck them in the bed where I slept every night. Our beautiful lovemaking was replaced by something meaningless.

  Was I stupid for loving Maverick DeVille?

  Was this my fault for letting my heart get so weak?

  No…because I thought he loved me too.

  I didn’t misinterpret what happened. We were together. It felt real. He risked his life for mine, and he was the best husband a wife could ask for. We were intimate, honest, beautiful. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else in the world.

  Then he threw it all away.

  All because I told him I loved him.

  How stupid was I?

  2

  Maverick

  I sat in my office across the hall from my bedroom. Now that Arwen was gone, I was smoking cigars on a daily basis, and my scotch reserves were slowly being depleted. There was no one nagging me about my health, so I did whatever the hell I wanted.

  Abigail knocked on the open door before she stepped inside. In her arms was the pink dress Arwen had worn to the party a few nights ago. It was on the hanger, unwrinkled, like she’d taken care of it. “She left this behind. I can arrange to get it to her. Or if you prefer, I could just throw it away.”

  I sank in my chair with my fist propped under my chin. “I’ll take it to her.”

  “I can handle it for you, Mr. DeVille.”

  “No. It’s okay.”

  Abigail gave me a look of pity before she draped
the dress over the back of the couch. “Anything else I can get you at this time?”

  I brought the cigar to my lips. “Close the door on your way out.”

  I called her three times, and she never answered.

  I knew where she was staying because my men kept tabs on her. She had a small apartment that was walking distance from the theater. It was close to where she’d been living before we got married.

  I carried the dress to the second floor then knocked on her door.

  Her apartment must be small because I could hear her footsteps so easily. She had a small budget even with the money she took from me, so she could only afford the bare minimum. I stood on the other side of the door as I listened to her approaching footsteps get louder.

  She opened the door and looked at me with the same cold expression as before.

  I didn’t know what I’d expected when she opened the door. Maybe less ferocity now that she’d had a few days to calm down. But she was even angrier than she was when she left my property.

  Her eyes glanced down to my hands. “Please don’t tell me you came all the way here to give me that.”

  “What am I supposed to do with it?”

  “This.” She snatched it out of my hands and carried it to the garbage can next to her counter. She stuffed it inside, getting it stained with the mustard she’d used on her lunch. She pushed it down until it was all the way inside before she came back to me.

  That dress cost a fortune. She could have sold it for extra cash.

  She looked at my hands again. “Where are the papers? All I need you to do is fill in the little tabs I marked on the side. You do paperwork every day. I know you can figure it out.” She crossed her arms over her chest and didn’t invite me inside her apartment.

  That was when I noticed she still wore her wedding ring. My eyes flicked back to hers. “This is a bad idea, Arwen. You’re living in a hole with no one to protect you. My father is still the same psychopath he’s always been—”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  “I made a promise to your father—”

  “And you have no problem breaking promises. Maverick, get out of my face and don’t come back. Sign those papers and drop them, or give them straight to your lawyer. I want to change my name back to Chatel as soon as possible. I don’t want to be your wife anymore.” She kept up a hard expression and stood her ground even though she was upset. Taking a break for a couple of days hadn’t calmed her down at all.

  “I didn’t break any promises. We’ve always had an open marriage—”

  “Fuck. You.” She held her hand in front of my face to shut me up. “It was different, and you knew it was. You could have handed me over to Kamikaze and spared yourself so much grief, but you didn’t.”

  “Because I promised your father I wouldn’t.”

  “You didn’t have to pick me over Caspian.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “You didn’t have to make love to me like it was all you ever wanted. You didn’t have to take me to your bed every night for months. Our relationship was different. It turned into something else, and the second things got real, you turned into a damn coward.”

  I heard all the insults, but I also heard the pain in between her words. “I assumed there would be times when it was just the two of us. Then we would go back to other people. Then we would go back to each other—”

  She slapped me across the face.

  I turned with the hit, my cheek immediately reddening because she’d hit me so hard. I slowly turned back to her, surprised she had the nerve.

  There wasn’t a single regret in her eyes. “I told you I loved you, and your response was to pick up some stupid girls and fuck them. Is that how you treat your wife when she puts her heart out there like that? Your friend? The person you trust? You think that’s okay?”

  “You didn’t tell me. You told the whole fucking room.”

  “With a romantic song I wrote just for you. I’m so sorry for being such an ass. At least I would respect you if you were honest about what happened. But this chickenshit act isn’t sexy at all. We both know you ran scared because you felt what I felt. You’re incapable of accepting love because you’re so screwed up in the head, so you backstab the one person who’s on your side, the one person who actually gives a damn about you. If that’s your choice, then fine. But I don’t want to be married to a prick like that.”

  My blood was boiling under the skin because of the insults and the slap to the face. But I didn’t have a comeback to anything she said. I stood on the threshold while my nerves continued to fire off in distress.

  “I don’t want your protection. I don’t want your money. All I want from you is a divorce.” She pushed me in the chest so I would back up from her front door. “Then I never want to see you again.”

  3

  Arwen

  The small apartment didn’t feel like home.

  Not because it wasn’t enormous and luxurious like Maverick’s estate.

  But because he wasn’t there.

  I lay in bed alone, the covers wrapped around me to keep me warm. My diamond ring still sat on my left hand because I didn’t have the strength to take it off yet. He’d come to my door and delivered my dress like there was a chance I’d forgotten it by mistake.

  No, I just didn’t want it.

  Then he tried to justify his behavior.

  There was no justification for what he did. I’d laid my heart at his feet, and he stomped it into pieces. He rejected my love and fucked someone else…two someones. It was such a cold response after everything we’d been through together.

  I still hadn’t gotten over it.

  Like it had just happened, I was still crying and cradling the pieces of my broken heart. I lay in the small bed and wished he were there with me. Without his deep breathing as my lullaby, I was stuck in my own thoughts. Every sound outside the window made me jolt. No matter how I tugged the sheets, I didn’t get warmer.

  I still missed him…despite what he’d done.

  Tears burned in my eyes as I stared at my wedding ring. A princess cut center stone with diamonds in the band, it was such a beautiful ring. I became attached to it instantly…and then I became attached to the man who gave it to me.

  I’d fallen in love with my husband.

  I didn’t see it coming, not in the beginning, the middle, or even now. Slowly, the affection deepened into something more. I admired all of his qualities, and as time passed, I became more enamored of the man he was.

  Even after he hurt me, I still considered him to be a good man.

  Just not the man for me.

  I should take off the ring and put it in a drawer. I should sell it at a jewelry shop or return it to Maverick.

  But I wasn’t ready for that yet.

  Until I signed those divorce papers…I was still a DeVille.

  I wondered if Maverick was drinking at a bar, trying to decide which woman he wanted to take home. Had he forgotten me so easily? Did he miss me at all? Or did he go back to his previous life as if nothing had ever happened between us?

  Was he fucking someone else that very moment?

  The thoughts made me cry harder.

  4

  Maverick

  I sat at the bar with a drink in my hand. It seemed like that was all I’d been doing for the past week.

  Drinking.

  Winter hit Florence hard, and the streets were icy with bitter cold. Windows were constantly fogged up, and a heavy jacket was necessary even for the short walk from the car to the bar. Smooth liquor was a requirement to keep the organs warm.

  Kent moved into the seat beside me. “She was hot but talked way too much.”

  “You can’t think of a way to shut her up?” There was a mirror against the wall of the bar, so I could see my reflection. My tanned skin was paler than usual, and my eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. I’d been smoking too much, drinking too much. Work was pushed to the side because I couldn’t focus.

>   “Of course I could. But she keeps talking about her cats, and it’s just a turn-off.”

  I swirled my drink. “That is weird.”

  “The hot ones usually are.”

  Arwen wasn’t weird. She was classy, smart, funny…the perfect woman.

  Kent pivoted in his chair and studied my face. “You look like shit. Like roadkill on a summer day kind of shit.”

  I took another drink. “Thanks for the compliment.”

  “What’s going on with you? You’ve been out every single night this week. Where’s the wife?”

  I didn’t have a wife anymore. I hadn’t submitted the divorce papers yet, but she and I were no longer together. I was a free man who could screw anyone I wanted, but I found myself sleeping alone every night. “She’s gone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “As in, she left me.”

  “She left you?” he asked incredulously. “I thought she had to be married to you.”

  “Kamikaze is dead, so she doesn’t need me anymore.” I stared into my glass, my fingers still hugging the sides.

  “I always got the impression that she liked being married to you.”

  She did. In fact, she loved it.

  If I were honest with myself…I did too.

  Kent kept staring at me, waiting for an answer. “You aren’t going to tell me the whole story?”

  “She left me. What else is there to say?”

  “But why?” he pressed. “What the hell did you do? That woman is sex on legs. Why would you screw that up?”

  In my eyes, I didn’t screw it up. I had every right to sleep with whomever I wanted. She did too. I just chose to exercise that right at the worst time. “We were at a party, and she basically told the entire room that she loved me…”

  “So?”

  I stared into my glass. “What did she expect me to do?”