The Billion Dollar Getaway [#6]

Chapter 5

Joshua could make any woman laugh, but Serena wasn't even fazed by his charming smile and flirtatious comments about her beach body. They both knew damn well she was carrying a baby under that bump.

"How's your smoothie?" he asked, glancing at her lips as they wrapped around the straw.

"Fine," she muttered.

"God, you're gorgeous."

She coughed up the contents and instinctively slid further off her seat. "I'm married, Joshua."

He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and smirked. "You mentioned that more than once already, yet you're still here."

"I know I didn't just see you touch my wife," Theo said, jaw clenched and fists at his sides.

Serena turned at the sound of his voice and quirked an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

Theo tucked his hands into his pockets, shrugging. He didn't know how to answer that. "I don't know."

She glared at him and stole a quick breath. "You're lying."

"Of course I am," he said, glancing down at the furious woman. "I wouldn't hop on a plane for no reason. I can't stand being apart from you, Serena."

"Our last conversation doesn't convince me of that." She shifted in her chair to avoid his gaze and stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. "Is this it for us, Theo?"

"What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath and fought the cry that threatened to escape her. "Is this where we decide we're finished trying?"

Theo's mouth became unhinged as he took her hand in his and led her to an isolated area away from the bar. "I didn't come all the way here to let you go, sweetheart."

"But you should," she said, looking away in shame. "I think you've fallen... out of love. Not just with me but with us."

"I love you more than anything," he told her as he reached for her, but she recoiled by taking a step back. That instantly broke his already wounded heart. "Please, Serena. We can work this out."

"There's nothing to work out anymore. If I keep you, I'll want you to walk away from the job you love so much."

"Then I'll do that-"

"Stop," she pleaded. "Don't say that, Theo, because I will hold you to that promise and you'll forever resent me."

"I could never resent you," he assured her. He captured her in an embrace and kissed her hair. "I'm ready to give up so much for us. I should have long ago to avoid this conversation now."

"But you didn't, and that speaks a lot." She looked up to meet his gaze and immediately broke down into tears at the sight of his vulnerable brown eyes. "We have to end this now before it gets worse. I don't know how many more nights your children and I will stay up waiting for you to come home."

"Not another one," he vowed. "Come home with me and I can make this all better. I will be a better husband for you and a better father, but please don't leave me."

"I'm not in love anymore," she cried, desperately pushing him away.

"You're lying, Serena. You're lying to make this easier."

"This will never be easy, Theo!" She wiped the tears in her eyes and sank to the ground, pulling him with her. "I can't let you go, but I have to."

"No, you don't." He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. They must have looked ridiculous, but he wouldn't lose his wife over his mistakes. "You never have to let me go."

"Promise me you'll always love me."

"I promise."

She climbed into his arms and held him close to her. It would probably be the last time she touched him like this.

• • • • •

"Serena, this is wrong on so many levels," Kyle told his sister, shaking his head in disapproval. "What about his kids?"

"I've sorted it out with my lawyer," she said, packing her second bag. "We would have joint custody. He will stay in the house, and I will find an apartment."

"You haven't even talked to him about this. You know Theo won't sign for the divorce."

She casually shrugged and shoved the last article of clothing into her bag. She still had the bag from her vacation packed and never unpacked it when the girls got in the night before. "It won't change what's happening."

"How can you give up so easily? The man has offered to quit his job and make so many changes to make you happy. Please don't leave him like this."

"That's the problem," she all but screamed at her brother. "I love Theo too much to let him change his entire life for me. He's busy and occupied with work. It's been that way long before I walked back into his life, and it needs to stay that way if he wants to be happy."

"He's happy with you," Kyle whispered dejectedly. "You should have seen him after that summer he spent with us. He was miserable, and then losing you a second time was hard on him. Imagine what it'll be like to come home to an empty house and divorce papers. He won't be the same Theo ever again."

"I hear you," she said, fighting back tears. "I really do, but there's always going to be that part of me that knows he's better off without me. And then there's that part that tells me to stay because he needs me. Needing me just isn't enough."

"Rena," Kyle practically pleaded, "he's so in love with you. You both had everyone convinced you'd be together forever."

"I need to hear him say that."

And with that, Serena picked up her bags and made her way downstairs where Theo stood in front of the door with bloodshot eyes and the most vulnerable look she had ever seen on the man she loved.