Chapter 43

• It had been a week since Alexis had confessed the truth, her voice trembling as she said her feelings for Matthew. Haven had tuned in stony quiet, his heart splitting with each word. He had anticipated the outrage, the catastrophe, but not the frosty assurance that presently settled over him like a moment's skin.
• He was sitting alone in his study, the dim light of the work area light casting shadows over the walls. The whiskey in his glass was untouched, the golden fluid reflecting his brooding face. Haven’s mind was a tornado of considerations, each one driving back to the same conclusion: he had to induce Alexis back. He couldn’t let her go, not to Matthew, not to anybody. She was his spouse, and he would do anything it took to win her back.
• The first step was to get it what had gone wrong. Haven knew Alexis cherished him—at least, she had cherished him once. Their marriage hadn’t been idealised, but it had been strong. Or so he thought. He needed to figure out when things had changed, and why she had turned to Matthew, of all individuals. And after that once he knew, he would make an arrangement to bring her back to him.