“He’s not right for you and he knows it.”

I shook my head and sighed. “Mum, I need you to let me make my own mistakes. I need to live my own life.”

“I’m really sorry to tell you this, darling, but I wanted to show you what kind of man he was. I offered him a generous monthly allowance to stay away from you.”

I almost dropped the expensive gold-plated cup when I jumped up. “You did what?” I snarled, outraged.

“Sit down, Juliette. I’ve done you a favour.”

“By offering money to the man I love to stay away from me? How exactly is that doing me a favour?” I was losing my mind.

Obviously realising I wasn’t going to sit back down, she stood up. In heels, she was taller than me. “Have a think about it, Juliette. You’re a smart girl.” She tapped the side of her head. “I wouldn’t be telling you this if he said no.”

Everything I knew about Leo told me it wasn’t true. “I don’t believe you. Leo loves me.”

She smiled and nodded then sashayed from the room, leaving me standing there dumbfounded. She returned moments later holding her phone out to me.

“What is that?”

“It’s a text from the man who loves you,” she stated sarcastically.

Grimacing, I took the phone and read the message.

I’ll stay away from Juliette.

I stared at the screen until it faded to black. Once again, loving me had a price tag and once again, the price was right. I calmly returned the phone to my smug mother.

“I hope you get the help you need,” I whispered, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Bye, Mum.”

When I was outside, I fumbled for my phone and called Sia.

“You leave for London in two weeks, right?” I asked when she picked up.

“Yep. Why?” she asked slowly.

“I’d like to come with you. I need a break.”

“What? Are you serious? What’s happened, Jules? What about Leo?”

“Yes or no, Sia.”

“Yes. Of course. I’d love you to come with me.”

I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

“So, I’ll speak to Heath tomorrow about getting a temp to cover me.”

Sia squealed and I had to hold my phone away from my ear. I tried to share in her excitement, but at that moment I just felt sad.

Chapter Forty-One

Juliette

Ignoring Leo’s constant calls, my sadness turned to anger and my anger turned to rage. I told the guys at the front desk not to let him up to my apartment. Years of suppressing my real feelings had taken its toll. I’d become an expert at rationalising other’s behaviour and compromising my own. I was a dangerous wreck of swirling hatred, bubbling up from the depths of my stomach. My only saving grace was knowing my debut fight was a matter of days away. If I had any compassion left in me, I might’ve felt sorry for my opponent, walking around somewhere, ignorant to the fact hell was going to be unleashed on her come Saturday.

“I don’t think you’re ready, Jules,” Zac stated firmly at the end of my Thursday training session.

“What?” My gloved hands dropped to my side, completely deflated. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.” I felt my eyes glaze over and I swallowed hard, refusing to give in to the threatening tears.

“See that,” he said, pointing at my eyes. “You’re too emotional. You won’t be able to focus properly.”

“I’m doing this, Zac,” I whispered as he helped me remove my gloves. “With or without you, I’m doing this.”

“Well, you have forty-eight hours to get your head in the right place. I know you’ve been through a lot lately, and you have every right to be a bit fucked up right now, but that will cost you in the ring. Eye of the Tiger, remember?”

“I’ll be fine. Trust me.”

“Okay, Jules. Rest up and do some of the meditation techniques I showed you.”

I rolled my eyes. Despite being a seasoned fighter, dolphin music and crashing waves could be the soundtrack to Zac’s life.

Walking back to my apartment, I felt like the weight of the world was back on my shoulders. I missed Leo. I hated that I missed him so much. It was impossible to just switch off my feelings for him when they were so genuine. I’d really fallen hard for him and he’d discarded me like yesterday’s news. It hurt like a bitch. Just when I had summoned the courage to defy my mother and break up with Richard, their affair had been slammed in my face. Leo’s love had helped me survive that massive blow. The full weight of that betrayal had not really been given a chance to infiltrate my heart, because I’d been enveloped in Leo’s. It had felt like I’d found my soul mate, and being so wrong was a hard pill to swallow.

My phone started ringing and his face appeared on my screen. It was a photo I’d taken at the farm when he was chopping wood. I’d called out to him and he’d turned around, run his hands through his hair and smiled. I’d captured a candid shot of him looking hotter than he’d ever looked before. My heart ached as I stared at the screen.

“Hello,” I whispered. I nearly didn’t answer the call, but I’d become too desperate to hear his gravelly voice again. I was too greedy for the way his voice spoke directly to the depths of who I was.

“Juliette,” Leo said on an exhale. “Thank God.”

“What do you want, Leo?” I closed my eyes, absorbing the way my body shivered.

“I want to talk to you. Fuck. I want so many things, Jules. Why have you ignored all my calls?”

“You don’t want me. You made that clear when you accepted money to stay away from me.” A wave of nausea hit me, and I had to sit down on the footpath, my back against the brick wall of a shopfront.

“Stop,” he demanded. “It’s complicated. Please don’t give up on us. I just needed time.”

“There’s nothing complicated here. You said you loved me. I said it back and meant it. You made me feel like you meant it too. Then the next day, you dumped me. Later, I see a text message you sent my mum, accepting her disgusting offer. Pretty black and white, Leo.”

I could hear him groan, and it sounded like something had broken in the background.

“Fuuuck. I didn’t take any money. I swear to you.”

Taken aback, I paused, trying to process what he’d just said. “But I saw the text.”

“Firstly, I thought it was Dick making the threats to your life. He’s a money-driven arsehole, so I had to at least consider the threat wasn’t idle.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s what I wanted to talk to you about at the café and then all week. You’ve been ignoring my calls and wouldn’t see me.” He paused, and I tried to reconcile what he was saying. “I was offered money to stay away from you or risk your safety.”

A few lonely tears fell from my eyes. What an epic clusterfuck. “It was my mother who made the offer, not Dick.”

“I get that now. I just needed time to sort it out and didn’t want you endangered in the meantime. I agreed to stay away from you in return for your assured safety. That was the offer I accepted.”

I ran my hand through my sweaty hair and closed my eyes. I was a disaster area of colliding emotions and I couldn’t breathe properly. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions, Leo, but you should’ve told me immediately what was going on instead of shutting down the way you did,” I whispered. “I’m leaving for Europe with Sia in a week. I just need some space from everything that’s happened the last few months. I just need…” I felt the tears threatening and struggled to get any more words out.

“What do you need, Juliette?” Leo’s voice sounded as broken as mine.

“I need to forget.” I sobbed the words out, allowing the tears to flow freely down my cheeks.

“You need to forget about me.” It was a statement rather than a question.

“I don’t think I could forget about you even if I wanted to, Leo.” I sniffed, wiping my arm across my eyes. “I just need to take a break for a while and just try to forget about my life here. The last few months have been…” I looked to the sky, unable to finish my sentence.