With the exception of a few minutes here and there, Paige literally hadn’t slept a wink. Not last night or the night before, and she was deliriously exhausted. She also hadn’t eaten in three whole days, had only spoken to Karla for a few minutes on Saturday—claiming she had an extremely busy weekend schedule and would call her early this week—and the only reason she’d forced herself to drink water was because she didn’t want to become dehydrated. She’d read a long time ago that the human body could survive for a while without food but not much more than three days without water, and for some reason she’d never forgotten that.
Today, though, it was early Monday morning, and she couldn’t dial Pierce’s work number fast enough.
“Pierce Montgomery’s office,” his assistant said. “Eleanor speaking.”
“Hi Eleanor. Is he in?”
“Sure, may I tell him who’s calling?”
“Yes, please let him know it’s his sister-in-law.”
“No problem.”
Paige waited a few seconds, and then Eleanor said, “I’ll put you right through.”
“Thank you,” she said, and there was a short silence.
“This is Pierce speaking.”
“Hey, how are you?” she asked.
“I’m good. You?”
“Not so well.”
Pierce said nothing else, and it sounded as though he was handling papers in the background.
“Look, Pierce. It’s been five days since we last talked, so why haven’t you called me?”
“There was no reason to.”
“Not even after we shared such a special time together? Not even after I poured my heart out to you the way I did?”
“Paige, you’re really trying my patience, but I’m going to explain this to you once and for all. What happened in Vegas will always stay in Vegas because it never should have happened in the first place. You and I did a terrible thing, but we have to go on with our lives. You with whomever and me with my wife.”
Paige’s heart pounded against her chest. “Pierce, please don’t cut me off like this. Please don’t stay with Camille when you know she can’t be trusted. She’s only going to hurt you again and again and again.”
“She and I have hurt each other. But that’s all in the past.”
Paige heard her call waiting signal, looked at the screen, and saw that it was Camille. She wanted to kill that heifer. Her sister was still coming out on top and getting everything she wanted, and Paige hated her for it.
“How can you pretend that Camille hasn’t done anything, Pierce?” she asked, ignoring the incoming call. “How could you forgive her?”
“Because she’s my wife, and I love her. But that’s all beside the point, Paige, and the bottom line is this: I don’t owe you or anyone else any explanations when it comes to my marriage.”
“Pierce, please listen to me.”
“No, I’ve heard more than enough from you, and after today, I don’t want you calling my office or cell numbers again.”
Paige’s eyes filled with water and soon massive tears slid down her face.
“Did you hear me, Paige?” he asked sternly.
“Pierce . . . I’ll . . . do . . . anything . . . but . . . please . . . don’t . . . end . . . things . . . between . . . us. Baby, I love you so much, and you’re all I have.”
“Goodbye, Paige.”
“But—” she tried saying. However, he was already gone and Paige was devastated.
She’d thought for sure that once he heard her voice, he would think about their intimate rendezvous at The Palazzo and would want to see her again. But for the first time since he’d initially begun trying to tell her he loved Camille and not her, she believed him. When he’d said their being together had been a mistake, she now knew he meant it. Worse, only minutes ago when he’d told her he didn’t want her calling him again, she’d known he was serious. But none of what was happening made any sense, and she wondered why God was punishing her—why He was making things so incredibly hard for her when it came to getting what she wanted. Why was He allowing Camille to triumph yet again? Why would He do this after all the years Camille had been blessed with everything, while Paige continued having nothing and no one to love her?
It was times such as these when Paige wondered if life was actually worth living and whether it would be easier to simply give up. But the only thing was, there was way too much passion in her to do something like that. Right now, she was extremely depressed, but she would never surrender to Camille. She would never allow her to keep Pierce without a fight. There was no denying that Pierce wholeheartedly thought Camille was the best woman for him, but just as soon as Paige pulled herself together and plotted a better plan to break them up, Pierce would turn to her again. He would come to her and promise to never leave her from then on. He would thank her for hanging in there for as long as she had and would shower her with all the gifts she could imagine. Instead of Camille, she would be the one who finally had everything.
Pierce would commit his life to Paige until death, and there wouldn’t be a single thing anyone could do about it.