Todos los capítulos de Jealous Games, Broken Hearts: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

When Sloane posted yet another intimate photo of her and Rafael on social media, I sent him a message asking for a divorce.Rafael called three minutes later.I watched Rafael name light up my screen and disappear. When he called a third time, I answered."What is this supposed to mean, Elodie?" His voice was glacial.I closed the bottle of prenatal vitamins on the coffee table. "Exactly what it says."There was a brief silence."You want a divorce because Sloane made one post?"Sloane. He said her name with effortless familiarity. It still hurt, but I was tired of pretending it did not."This isn't about her.""Then what is it? The dinner I sent her? Driving her home? Answering a few messages?"Each question pressed another nail into my heart."It's because you knew it would hurt me."After another pause, he said, "Then remember not to spend so long talking to another man in front of me again."My message was still on the screen.[Let's get a divorce.]"He was my college classmate. We

Before leaving, Rafael also warned me, "I'll speak to the exhibition committee. When you learn how to speak to me, perhaps you can participate."Before my class ended, the organizers called to say my acceptance was under review because of a copyright complaint.Minutes later, Sloane posted a clumsy imitation of Empty Chair.My first painting. Rafael says I have more instinct than some people who studied for years.Her friends praised her version. Sloane replied, Don't say that. Elodie might be upset.Her lines were weak, the perspective wrong, the shadows inconsistent. Yet Rafael's praise was enough to turn my work into a joke.At six, he ordered me to attend dinner. Then he reminded me that a Don's wife could not be absent and that he had prepared food suitable for my pregnancy.I called him. "Withdraw your interference with the exhibition.""Come home and apologize to Sloane. Everything will return to normal.""She copied my work and filed the complaint."His momentary silence told m

"The crash was real?"Marco looked at him without answering.Rafael pulled away from Sloane and ran from the room.At the hospital, Rafael pushed through the emergency entrance without waiting for his guards."Where is the pregnant woman brought in from the Westbridge crash?"The nurse checked the case number on her screen. Her expression changed."I'm sorry. One of them didn't survive. The body is being transferred to the morgue."She pointed toward the corridor on the right.Rafael went still.For years, men had lowered their heads when he entered a room. A single command from him could close a business, destroy a family, or decide whether someone lived through the night.Now he stood outside the morgue with one hand on the door and could not make himself open it."Elodie…"Behind him, the operating-room doors opened.Rafael turned.The nurses were wheeling me into the corridor. My face was pale beneath the oxygen mask, but my eyes were open.Relief broke across his face so suddenly

Julian personally called to confirm that my exhibition place had been restored."Empty Chair will hang on the first wall to the left of the main gallery.""That is the best position in the emerging artists section.""It belongs there."His certainty almost made me cry. Not from gratitude, but because it had been so long since anyone affirmed my work without attaching a condition.Six weeks after surgery, I could finally stand for longer periods. Maya came to opening night and photographed the wall label repeatedly."Artist: Elodie Quinn," she read with satisfaction. "No Vescari. No Sloane. Only you."Rafael arrived half an hour later, alone, carrying white lisianthus, once my favorite flowers. Guests recognized him and opened a path.He stopped before Empty Chair and studied the lonely chair beneath the yellow streetlamp.Julian approached me. "Congratulations, Elodie.""Thank you."Rafael glanced at him but did not make a cutting remark. He looked back at the painting."Why did you ca

I had no intention of attending the Vescari Foundation's anniversary gala, but the foundation sponsored the museum's next exhibition, and Julian needed me there as a featured artist."You may ignore anyone you do not want to see," he said.The ballroom glittered beneath crystal lights. As I entered, I heard guests whispering."The Don hardly leaves headquarters now.""The Russo family lost every Vescari contract.""He used Sloane to provoke his wife and lost his heir. He deserves this."Rafael stood at the center of the room, still unmistakably the Don. Yet he had grown thin. His eyes brightened when he saw me, but his mother reached me first."Elodie.""Mrs. Vescari."The formal address made her stiffen."Congratulations on the museum acquisition," she said. "I was wrong before. I thought only of the family's stability, not what the marriage was doing to you."She glanced at Rafael."He ended every connection with the Russos. No one has entered your apartment or the nursery. You loved