His Revenge (Power Play #1)

Chapter 27

Returning to the room, Ethan found Nicky still perched on the edge of the sofa, and the sight of her worsened his already foul mood. She looked at him, eyes large and round in fright, but at this point, he felt no pity for her.

He crossed to the window, hands jammed in his pockets as he took deep breaths, trying to get his emotion under control. Erin's good bye had carried a note of finality to it, as though she wanted nothing more to do with him and that thought sent coils of uneasiness through him. He was as much to blame for her misery as Nicky...Christ! Maybe he should have simply walked away and got on with his life when Nicky had called an end to their relationship rather than lashing out and hurting a woman who had only acted in her cousin's best interests, an action that had come around to bite him in the ass.

Yeah...karma was a bitch indeed.

He turned his attention to Nicky, needing to wrap things up so he could focus on more important things...namely getting Erin to forgive him and making up for being a first class asshole.

"So, I'm listening Nicky." He murmured, careful to keep his tone neutral. "What is this big secret you've been keeping from me?"

Nicky moaned, wringing her hands together in abject misery. "Please Ethan, can't we just forget the past and start all over? I'm really sorry for..."

"You brought up the past Nicky, what with your god damned lies and delusions." Ethan cut in coldly. "So you're just gonna have to suck it up and talk."

She sighed, and buried her face in her hands, the sound of her sobs only serving to harden his resolve. He glared at her, half-tempted to grab her shoulders and shake the truth out of her...wondering how he could have ever deluded himself to be in love with this selfish, manipulative shadow...he knew what she was doing...hoping to garner his sympathy with those tears, but right now, he was way past the point of feeling sorry for her, if anything, her actions just increased his disgust. So he waited in silence until the sobs died down and she raised her tear streaked face to his.

"Are you done?" He cocked an eyebrow at her, his disgust plain.

Nicky glared at him through red rimmed eyes and rose, stalking to the kitchen for tissues. "You're a heartless bastard Ethan."

"So I've been told." Ethan shrugged off the insult earning him a haughty look.

"You want to know why I dumped your ass?" She spat, clenching her hands into fists, her entire body oozing animosity. "It was because you were a selfish sonofabitch. I knew you didn't really love me, I knew that all you wanted was my money and my family's influence, but I was willing to overlook all your boring talk about your company and your goals for the future, simply because the sex was out of this world...but eventually, even that got old and tedious, so you want to know what I did, Sweetie?"

Nicky sneered at his stunned expression, her eyes dancing with malicious delight as she stood and came to stand so close to him, her breasts brushed against his chest. "I cheated on you Ethan Lachlan, not with one guy, but several...even a couple of your clients."

Ethan stared at the woman before him, shock coursing through his veins like icy water. Of all the scenarios he'd come up with, this had not crossed his mind. He took a step back from her, body recoiling from her touch as though he'd been burned....which he had been... burned that is.

"Of course, when Erin found out about my....antics, she got all goody two shoes and insisted I stop screwing around..." Nicky scoffed in derision, "but I just didn't care. After all, it was so much fun going behind your back...well...it was fun... until you proposed and I realized, I would rather stay single than chain myself to you..."