Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (53 page)

“Where the fuck have you been, Kyle?” she snapped, right out of the fucking gate.

Kyle nodded. Of course she would. What was the point of saying hello or having an ounce of regard for where they were at the present moment? No point at all, right?

Jesus Christ …
Why did he constantly get himself into shit like this?

She reached into the breast pocket of her shirt, yanking something out, and waved what looked like a small note in Kyle’s face.

“I want to talk about this.”

Frowning with his jaw clenching tight, Kyle looked over to his head of security, wondering what the fuck was the man and his security team here for if not to protect him from shit like this.

“Kyle!”

“Mind your tone, Aniyah,” he chided the woman, turning his gaze back to her. “Have you not noticed where we are standing?”

“Then take me somewhere else so we can talk.”

Kyle shook his head. “No. We’ve already talked.” On the phone for five whole fucking minutes. In Kyle’s opinion, that was far more time then they’d needed to just say all of the same shit that he’d said in the letter that
he hadn’t had
to send her in the first place. “There isn’t anything else that needs to be said. Relationships end sometimes, what the fuck …”

“Oh please,” she spat. “Stop giving me that ‘relationships end sometimes’ bullshit, Kyle. Why can’t you just tell the fucking truth.”

“I did …” Kyle frowned, lowering his voice as he reached forward and pulled the woman closer to him. “I already told you the truth, Aniyah. I’m done with you, that’s all.”

“Liar!” she screamed, jerking out of his grasp right as her fist slammed into his shoulder. “You, cheating, lying, son of a bitch. I hate you!”

And now they were gaining an audience. Fuck!

So much for getting to his office undetected.

Dammit!

Fuck this.

He’d had enough. It was too much, and he knew Reanna wanted him to wait, but Kyle was past his limit. Patience was not a virtue that he’d ever possessed, and he was a firm believer in the scriptured words
‘the truth shall set you free’
. He was done. Finished beating around the fucking bush. The longer he put up with Aniyah, the higher the risk was that he’d regress back into his old ways. He needed to end this for good now … that was the smartest move.

Grabbing the woman by her wrist, he stilled her swinging arms. “I’m getting married!”

That silenced her, which was good for Kyle because he was able to release her from his hold and put some much desired distance between them.

“Alright?” Kyle continued. “I fell for someone else … and she and I did have sex while you and I were
technically
still together, yes.” Though Kyle would use the term
‘together’
loosely in reference to his and Aniyah’s past arrangement, but whatever. “But it wasn’t intentional.” That was a lie. It had been intentional … on his part at least. “And I ended things with you as soon as possible the next day.” Because if he hadn’t, Reanna would have left his ass. “So there,” he let out a long breath. “That’s the truth. All of it.” And damn did it feel good to get it out.

That was until Aniyah reared back and slapped him, full fucking force, right across his face.

He lifted his hand to stop the progress of Jake—his head of security— when it looked as if the man was about to move forward and remove Aniyah from the building because of her action.

“Leave her be,” he commanded him.

He could handle this situation on his own.

He should have seen that coming. It didn’t happen to him often, but once or twice, a few of the crazier women in his past –that he’d wronged rather severely— found it fit to resort to violence instead of just accepting the fact that Kyle no longer wanted them and moving on. So, in the effort of not handling this situation as he would have in the past, Kyle swallowed his anger— even as his face stung with the sensation of her assault— then he ran his hand over his face and took a step back from the woman.

“I suppose I deserved that …” Words that he’d never said before after being hit in the face in such a fashion.

But they were true, no matter how much Kyle didn’t care for them to be. He had to keep reminding himself of the fact that, although he had no feelings toward his situation with Aniyah Clark whatsoever, the reality was that he’d most likely hurt the woman. Broken her heart … or pride, or whatever the fuck. And even though he thought she was crazy for being surprised by the ending of their … relationship, she was delusional; so she’d probably—
actually—
thought that she had real feelings for him. Even though Kyle knew that such a claim would be utter and complete bullshit.

“You are a sorry, sickening excuse for a man, Kyle Valente,” she spat, the hatred in her voice more than obvious as the tears streamed from her eyes. “I can’t believe I’ve wasted my time loving you—”

“You don’t love me, Aniyah,” Kyle chuckled softly, running a hand over his face. So fucking predictable. “It’s infatuation.” He shrugged. “You love the idea of being with me.” Most women he’d fucked in the past did. “The idea of belonging to me, the idea of being the
‘Charmers woman’
. Then there’s the way I look. The way I fuck you. You love these things as well, but you’ve never loved me. That’s bullshit. You’re not a fucking teenager, Aniyah. You should know the difference between a dream and
reality
. I’m not a goddamn charmer, and whatever lifestyle you wish to achieve from belonging to me, trust me, the reality of being the woman that truly loves me will disappoint you. I’m just a man.” A powerful one, yes, but a man nonetheless. “You think that I can give you the lavish life you desire.” The parties, the five-star dining, VIP treatment at New York’s most exclusive clubs, showering her with diamonds, time, and attention. Just a life full of extravagance. A kept life. “And I could. I could give it to you.” He had the money, the status, and the proper connections. “But that isn’t my life, Aniyah.” And he didn’t want it to be. Not anymore. “After I’m finished here, I go home to my daughter.

He put emphasis on
daughter
to remind Ms. Clark that he had one, just in case she’d forgotten.

“The majority of my days consist of,” he shook his head, “… doing homework with my five-year-old or painting pictures in her coloring books with her. The most exclusive parties I attend on a regular basis are Sofia’s tea parties, where the dress code is an ‘I love papa’ shirt she painted for me at school, and a fucking plastic princess crown, which I wear,” he laughed humorlessly, “because I’m her fucking father and I love doing shit that I’d otherwise feel like a fucking lunatic doing just to see her smile, to hear her laugh and tell me how funny I am. That is the shit I live for now, Aniyah. Maybe five years ago when I didn’t give a fuck about anything but myself I could be with a woman like you. A fucking needy …” Kyle let out a tired sigh, “ … superficial, greedy woman, who also only gives a fuck about herself, but I’m not that man anymore.” He shook his head. “I’ve grown tired of it. I’m
settling the fuck down,
Aniyah. I’ve found a wife whom I love, whom my daughter loves, and she loves us—
both of us
— as well. So I’m going to end this,” he motioned between them, “us, here, so that I can focus on making the woman I want to marry vow to be with me for the rest of her life before she realizes just how much of a fuck up I really am. And you,” he rolled his eyes, “are free to stand here and cry and scream about how much I …,” he blinked, “… hurt you, but you and I both know the truth.” He shrugged. “You’re full of shit, Aniyah.” So much shit. “You don’t give a fuck about me. You don’t love me, and I’m not responsible for you ‘wasting’ your time. You got what you wanted.” He smiled. “I gave you the experience, didn’t I?” He’d given her the gifts, the dates, the VIP treatment. Hell, he’d even given her his credit card more than a few times just to shut her the fuck up about his lack of time. The woman never spent less than thirty thousand on a shopping spree. “You got what you wanted now move the fuck on. If you’d like, I can have my secretary draw you up a list of billionaire friends of mine that are in the market for a kept woman—”

“You are a fucking asshole …”

“An asshole,” he nodded in agreement. “Yes I am. But I’m one that values honesty. And your claim of loving me in anyway,” he sighed sadly, “was a pretty big lie. It’s sad, Aniyah. Your honesty was the one thing that I really enjoyed about you, but now,” he shrugged. “I’m disappointed.”

“I’m disappointed in you, son of a bitch!”

“Excellent,” Kyle said with a clap of his hands. “At least we can end this shit on the same page then.”

“Fuck you!”

“What is this? Why are you yelling at my son?”

The familiar, feminine, French-accented voice nearly made Kyle jump; her sudden presence caught him by surprise.

“Mom!” he blurted out.

Which was a bit surprising to him, seeing as he’d never just referred to the woman as ‘mom’ before, even though he knew she truly wanted him to. It was usually ‘step-mother’ or by her name ‘Anastacia’, never just
‘Mom’
. Her eyes only widened slightly for a moment before her features relaxed once again, as if she were shrugging Kyle’s address off like it were normal.

Interesting.

Kyle shrugged. Fuck it. He could call her mom. She was his step-mother after all.

She turned her gaze away from him and back to Aniyah, even as she continued to bounce Kyle’s babbling little sister on her hip, and hold tightly to little Josef’s hand as he stood beside her near baby Natalia’s stroller.

Kyle wanted to reach over and greet the kids, but he knew if he moved forward in between his step-mother and the woman she was talking to, then he’d probably get told off.

“I asked you a question,” she said to Aniyah, her head cocking slightly to the side. “I said, ‘why are you raising your voice at my son?’”

Aniyah said nothing. And Kyle didn’t blame her because he wasn’t about to say shit either.

“Don’t you work here?”

Once again, no answer.

She was scared, obviously, so of course being the gentleman that he was, Kyle answered for her. “She’s Nathan’s secretary...”

The glare shot in his direction almost immediately. “Do not answer for her, Kyle,” she chided sharply.

Kyle frowned. Mean. Reaching out, he took his baby sister, who had been calling for him since she’d arrived, and kissed her plump, rosy cheeks over and over again—much to her delight— all while still frowning at his step-mother.

Anastacia then immediately shot her icy glare back in Aniyah’s direction. “When I ask you a question, you will answer me immediately. Am I understood?”

“Yes,” Aniyah nodded immediately. “I work here.”

Anastacia nodded, seemingly satisfied with the quick response. “Well you don’t anymore,” she responded curtly. “Go prepare your things for your final departure from the Salerno Organization. You are no longer needed here. Kyle will send up security, and they will escort you out.”

“But—”

“Don’t waste your time going to seek out my son-in-law either,” she cut Aniyah off. She gave her a half smile. “I’ll call him and tell him I let you go.”

“But you can’t—”

Anastacia shot a warning look, cutting the woman off once again. “I can and I did,” she said, careful not to raise her voice too loud. “Did you think that after a scene like that, you’d still have a position in this organization? Do you know who he is?”

Silence.

“Answer me!” she snapped.

“I’m sorry,” Aniyah said quickly, shaking her head back and forth. “I’m s-sorry.”

Keeping her features hard, Anastacia took a step forward. “I usually don’t worry myself with little girls like yourself, but darling …” She paused and smiled. “If I have to repeat myself once more, then you and I are going to have a problem.”

Patience gone. That quick. Kyle could tell by the way she’d gritted the words out of her mouth. Shaking his head and bouncing Cami up and down, he took a step back. If he were Aniyah, he’d have been gone already.

Slowly, Aniyah began backing away from them.

“Goodbye now,” she shooed her once more with a light flick of her wrist.

Aniyah had gazed in Kyle’s direction, as if expecting him to say something on her behalf, but Kyle only frowned and remained silent. He watched as she looked away from him, then back to his step-mother, then back to him again before turning away from them and finally leaving to do as she’d been told.

Kyle wasn’t going to lie; he sighed a long sigh of relief after the woman had left because he was relieved as fuck. Had he himself wanted Aniyah gone? Yes.
Hell
yes. It’d have been unpleasant as hell seeing an angry ex-lover every damn day; Kyle had wanted the woman out. But how fucked up would it have been for him to end their relationship, get engage to another woman, and fire her from her job …

Fucked up, right?

That had been the reason why he’d planned on having
Nathan
fire the woman—

“Kyle Valente!”

The sharp voice of his angry step-mother jolted Kyle from his thoughts.