“What?” Her voice was so soft, so small. So full of hope.
“I’d wait all my life for her to come back to me.” He took her hand, kissed the palm. “I wasted fifteen years on someone that wasn’t worth it. I can wait a lifetime for someone that is.”
“Oh, Cade,” Kylie said, tremulous.
“I love you, Kylie. I know the timing is terrible. I know I haven’t been fair to you through things, but I love you. Not Daphne. Never Daphne. I love you because you’re everything that she’s not. You’re the one I want in my life. You’re the one I wake up wanting to see. You’re the one I want in my bed every morning, and in my arms every night. And I certainly don’t want an annulment.”
For some reason, that made Kylie pull her hand free of his. Her face fell again. “I don’t want an annulment, either. But my contract—”
“Are they holding you by your contract?” That blistering rage exploded through Cade’s mind again. It wasn’t Kylie that was the problem, then. It was Daphne. Always Daphne. “Goddamn that spoiled brat. She’s the most miserable person I’ve ever met. I don’t think she wants anyone to be happy if she’s not. You don’t worry about Daphne, love. I’ll handle her.”
“No need,” said a curiously flat voice behind them. “The spoiled brat heard everything.”
Kylie tensed in Cade’s arms.
No. He wouldn’t let her bully them any longer. Not with her actions, not with her words. He kept Kylie locked in his arms and turned, looking over his shoulder at Daphne. She was in her opening number costume, a spangly flapper dress designed to look a bit like the blue waves of the ocean, and her wig was a bright platinum. Underneath the thick, bouncy curls, though, her small face was sickly, her eyes hollow. Her twig-like arms hugged her torso, and Cade realized she was thinner than he’d ever seen her.
“Maybe I am a spoiled brat,” Daphne said. “Maybe I am mean. And selfish. Or maybe I just need to know that no matter how awful I am, someone’s going to be there for me.” Her glitter-painted mouth quivered. “I . . . guess I was wrong about that, huh?”
She turned and stalked away, slamming through the double doors and heading for her private suite backstage.
Silence fell.
“Yo, should we go after her?” One of the dancers asked. “She’s supposed to be onstage in five minutes.”
“I’m not going after her,” Carmela said. “I don’t want a vase to my forehead like Kylie there.”
Cade didn’t blame her. “Everyone just leave her alone. Let her work off her sulk.” He didn’t care what Daphne did at this point. The livid bruise on Kylie’s forehead—Kylie, who was nothing but kind and caring—had destroyed any sort of tenderness he might have felt for Daphne. Daphne had attacked an employee, and she should have been sued. Instead, they were pressuring poor Kylie to dump him to make Daphne happy. The ugliness of it galled him.
So did Kylie’s next words. “You should go after her, Cade.”
He looked at her incredulously, then shook his head. “I came here today for you and only you.”
“I know,” Kylie said softly. “But you haven’t seen the way Daphne’s been for the last week. She’s crumbling, Cade. She’s an utter mess and no one knows what to do.”
“No. She had her chance. She could have apologized to you. She could have tried to make things better. Instead, she’s letting her goons pressure you. I refuse to give in to her bullying.”
But Kylie shook her head and clutched at his jacket. “It’s not about bullying right now. Cade, I love you with all my heart, but I still think you should go after her, all right? She’s not in her right mind lately.”
“That much is obvious,” he said, and brushed a thumb over Kylie’s brow, just below the livid bruise. The sight of it made him furious.
“Exactly,” Kylie said, her big eyes pleading. “It’s not about sense any longer. It’s not about who wants who. I’m just . . . I worry that she’s going to hurt herself, all right? She’s been raging unchecked and you were the only one she even halfway cared about. Now that she doesn’t have you, I don’t know what she’s going to do. Just . . . go talk to her, okay?”
He hesitated. Then sighed. Cupping Kylie’s chin, he gave her a soft kiss. “This is why I love you, Kylie Daniels. Because you have a soft heart despite everything.”
“I love you, too,” she whispered. “So much. Even though I’m not supposed to.”
“That’s bullshit. You are supposed to. I don’t give a shit what the label says or what they think they can force you to do. Whatever it is they think they have over you, I’ll handle it. Do you trust me to?”
Slowly, she nodded. “We’ll talk about it later. For now—”
“Yes, for now, I’ll see Daphne. For you.” Cade gave Kylie another quick kiss, then turned and headed for the hall that Daphne had disappeared down. He noticed that no one in Daphne’s staff volunteered to accompany him as he went, which told him volumes. Whatever loyalty or affection Daphne might have had from her people was long gone. Sad that she should have been on top of the world at the moment and now she had no one who cared for her.
The hall was empty except for a lone security guard at the end of the hall. It was obvious which one was Daphne’s door. Cade headed toward the door, grimly determined.
The security guard gave him a carefully blank look as Cade approached.