King of Greed (Kings of Sin #3) by Ana Huang

I knew I was the odd one out in the trio. Both Kai and Dante came from money so old, it belonged in a museum, whereas my billions were brand new, but at the end of the day, money was money. Not even the pedigree snobs at Valhalla dared snub me openly when I controlled the fate of their investments.

“He’s right,” Kai said mildly. “You look like you haven’t slept in weeks.”

Because I haven’t.

“Keep it up and you’ll scare away your investors,” Dante added. “Your face was ugly enough without adding the dark circles and scowl to the mix.”

I snorted. “Look who’s talking.” He’d gotten in so many fights, his nose was permanently fucked up, though that hadn’t stopped women from throwing themselves at him before he got married.

“Vivian likes my face just fine.”

“She’s your wife. She’s obligated to pretend.” Like how Alessandra pretended she was happy when she wasn’t. A sharp pang grabbed hold of my heart and twisted.

I tossed back my drink, trying to lose myself in the burn of alcohol while Dante and Kai exchanged glances. I hadn’t told them what happened with Alessandra, but she was good friends with Vivian and Isabella, Kai’s girlfriend. I assumed they’d filled their partners in on what happened.

“Speaking of wives, how are things with Ále?” Kai asked, his tone so placid, he might as well be talking about the weather.

“Fine,” I said curtly.

“Heard she served you divorce papers at work.” Unlike Kai, Dante possessed the tact of a socially inept bull.

My shoulders tensed. “That was a misunderstanding.”

“No one hires Cole fucking Pearson for a misunderstanding.” A touch of sympathy crossed Dante’s face. “Tell me you’re not brushing this off. If you divorce, your assets— ”

“I know what happens to my assets.” The logical part of me said I should care more; I didn’t. “We’re not getting divorced.” I reached for my lighter, but for once, the familiar flicks of the flint wheel couldn’t calm the storm raging inside me. “We’ll work it out. Go to counseling, take a nice long trip somewhere.”

I’d forgotten about the time she asked for couples’ therapy until she brought it up at my office. It’d been three years ago, and I’d been swamped with a huge acquisition at the time. She’d only asked once, so I’d figured it was an impulsive request rather than the sign of a long-standing issue. When we were dating, Alessandra never hesitated to tell me when she had a problem.

We just needed to reconnect, that was all. We could recreate our honeymoon in Jamaica or spend two weeks traveling through Japan. I couldn’t realistically take more time than that off work, but two weeks would be enough, right? Once Alessandra and I spent time alone together, we’d be fine. That’d been her reason for going to marriage counseling in the first place.

Dante and Kai remained silent.

“What?” Irritation crept into my veins. I was already on edge from exhaustion, stress, and a strange ache that seemed to follow me everywhere. I didn’t need my friends’ silent judgment too.

“I don’t think a vacation or counseling is going to solve your problems,” Dante said.

“Why the hell not?”

He gave me an incredulous look. “You missed your ten- year wedding anniversary. I forgot about a dinner party once and Vivian wouldn’t talk to me for days. If I missed an anniversary…” He grimaced. “Let’s not go there.”

“What Dante is trying to say is, a few weeks at a luxury resort won’t make up for years of suppressed feelings,” Kai cut in, diplomatic as always. “Clearly, Alessandra has been…discontent for a while. The anniversary was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. You can’t buy your way out of it.”

I stared at them.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Dante said. “Let’s stop beating around the bush. You’re the problem, Dom. Even someone who’s met you both once can tell you barely paid attention to Alessandra when she was around. How many times have you stayed at the event while she went home because she didn’t feel well? How many dinners did you take with clients instead of with her?” He shook his head. “Your obsession with work is good for my portfolio, so I’m not complaining about that. But you can’t be surprised Alessandra’s fed up.”

“There’s no short-term fix for something like this,” Kai said, his tone a touch gentler than Dante’s. “It requires an entire lifestyle and mindset shift.”

“You sound like a fitness coach commercial.” On. Off. I flicked my lighter with unsteady hands.

Despite my blithe reply, my mind whirled with chaos. Dante made the same points Alessandra had, but whereas hers had cut with precision, his punched me right in the gut.

It was one thing for the other person to point out the flaws in a relationship. It was another for a third party to do so with unerring accuracy, especially when I’d thought everything had been fine. Not great, but not horrible. Obviously, I’d been wrong.

On. Off. The tiny flame blurred as snippets from the past few years streamed past my mind’s eye.

When had our marriage devolved to the state it was now? Alessandra and I used to eat dinner together every night. We had an unmissable date night every Friday, and we never went to bed without telling each other about our days. Then I started Davenport Capital and things changed, slowly but surely.