Part 3Revenge in Full Bloom

"Rough customer?"

Claire pressed a soft, lingering kiss to the corner of my mouth, trailing her lips upward until she reached my forehead. She didn't pull back until she saw the tight lines of my face soften into a smile.

"I told you to hire a manager. You’re too stubborn for your own good."

Feigning annoyance, she crossed her arms and turned away, trying to look cross.

Seeing her mock-serious expression broke the last of my tension, and I laughed out loud.

Another day passed. And then, true to form, Elena showed up at the shop again.

This time, she didn't pretend to browse. She sat quietly on the wooden bench in the corner, nursing a lukewarm Americano in a paper cup.

She had no intention of leaving.

Every now and then, she’d look up, her eyes swimming with an emotion I couldn't be bothered to decode. I ignored her completely, serving customers until the bell above the door chimed for the final time.

Only when the shop was empty did she finally rise and walk toward the counter.

"Hayes. Can we talk?"

I jammed the final stem of a red rose into a vase and nodded.

She took a ragged, shaky breath.

"Six years ago... I just needed a break." She gripped the edge of the counter. "We just needed a cooling-off period. I thought we’d find our way back to how things were when we were first in love."

It was almost laughable. Years of silence, and that was the excuse she’d finally manufactured?

"Am I losing my mind? Didn't you spearhead the industry blacklist against me?" I asked, my voice dangerously quiet. "Was your idea of a 'cooling-off period' pushing me off a cliff so you could swoop in and play the savior?"

Elena flinched as if she’d been physically struck, the color draining entirely from her face.

"You really think I didn't see what was happening between you and Nathan?"

As Nathan’s financial fortunes had risen, Elena’s attitude toward him had undergone a slow, venomous shift. From carefully maintained professional distance, to sneaking out behind my back to attend gallery openings.

On our wedding anniversary, Elena claimed she had to stay late for a major exhibition launch. Nathan had requested the night off for personal reasons.

Instead, the two of them had driven three towns over to a private art gala, leaving me entirely alone to manage the gallery’s crisis management alone.

A colleague had spotted them and forwarded me the photos.

I’d planned to sit down and have an honest, adult conversation with her about it. I never expected to find divorce papers waiting for me instead.

Elena dropped her chin, staring blindly at the floor. "Hayes, I just wanted to tell you—"

Before she could finish, the glass door of the shop flew open with a violent crash.

Nathan stormed in, his face twisted in a dark, ugly scowl. He marched straight to the counter and clamped his hand around Elena’s wrist, yanking her upright.

"Yvonne! What the hell are you doing here? Trying to pick up where you left off with your ex?"

Elena wrenched her arm out of his grip, her eyes flashing. "I was just... trying to clear the air about what happened!"

"Clear the air? There's nothing to clear!"

Nathan whipped his head around, fixing me with a look of pure, venomous contempt.

"Hayes! How shameless can you possibly be, hanging around bothering Yvonne? She dumped your sorry ass years ago. What makes you think she wants anything to do with you now?"

He pulled out his leather wallet, yanked out a thick wad of cash, and flung it into the air.

Green bills rained down over the displays, floating lazily to the floor. Several customers pulled out their phones, recording the scene with morbid fascination.

I didn't bother arguing. I just picked up a rag and wiped down the surface of a ceramic vase.

"Nathan. You aren't welcome here. As for Elena? I wouldn't take her if she came wrapped in gold."

"Who the hell do you think you're looking down on?" he snarled, losing his last shred of control.

He snatched a heavy glass vase off the counter and hurled it straight to the floor.

Crash.

The sound of shattering crystal pierced the air.

"It's just a damn flower shop! I can afford to trash this dump ten times over!"

An exquisite celadon porcelain vase—a masterwork of restoration—shattered next. Then a hand-thrown earthenware pot. One by one, he smashed them to pieces.

Elena stared in horror for a few seconds before she lunged at him, grabbing his arm. "Nathan! Have you lost your mind? Stop it!"

"Have I lost my mind? I'm protecting my marriage!" he roared, whirling on her.

"You betrayed him back then, and now you're trying to betray me?"

Nathan’s eyes bulged, veins standing out on his neck.

"Don't think I forgot! Six years ago, you were the one who copied the backup files right off his computer and handed them to me!"