Our Broken Love

by Terri Anne Browning

  Our

  Broken

  Love

  USA TODAY BEST SELLING AUTHOR

  TERRI ANNE BROWNING

  All rights reserved © Terri Anne Browning 2017

  This is a work of fiction. Any characters, names, places, or incidents are used solely as a fictitious nature based on the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to or mention of persons, place, organizations, or other incidents is completely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any other means without permission from the Publisher.

  Written & Published by Anna Henson/Terri Anne Browning

  Cover Design by Jenn Ann of Book Nerds Designs

  Formatting by ML Pahl of IndieVentions Designs

  Kari: All rights reserved © 2012 Anna Henson/Terri Anne Browning 2017

  Eve: All rights reserved © 2013 Anna Henson/Terri Anne Browning 2017

  Erin: All rights reserved© 2012 Anna Henson/Terri Anne Browning 2017

  Alexis: All rights reserved© 2013 Anna Henson/Terri Anne Browning 2017

  Reese: © All rights reserved 2012 Anna Henson/Terri Anne Browning 2017

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Kari

  Eve

  Erin

  Alexis

  Reese

  Kari

  All rights reserved © Anna Henson 2012/Terri Anne Browning 2017

  This is a work of fiction. Any characters, names, places, or incidents are used solely as a fictitious nature based on the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to or mention of persons, place, organizations, or other incidents is completely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any other means without permission from the Publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Kari: Prologue

  Kari: One

  Kari: Two

  Kari: Three

  Kari: Four

  Kari: Five

  Kari: Six

  Kari: Seven

  Kari: Eight

  Kari: Nine

  Kari: Ten

  Kari: Eleven

  Kari: Twelve

  Kari: Thirteen

  Kari: Fourteen

  Kari: Fifteen

  Kari: Sixteen

  Kari: Seventeen

  prologue

  The pain in my stomach was nowhere near as bad as the pain in my heart. I couldn’t breathe as I stood there on the crowded balcony overlooking the ballroom below. It was hot inside the room, but I felt as cold as the frigid, snowy December night outside the windows. As if I could protect myself from any more pain, I wrapped my arms around my body and tried to rub some semblance of warmth back into my iced-over arms.

  How could he do this to me?

  That same question kept repeating itself over and over inside my mind until I thought I was going to scream.

  How could she do this to me…?

  That was the question that always followed the first one. Two of the people I loved the most in the world were ripping me into a million pieces, and they didn’t even seem to notice. Or care.

  Bianca Carrington was my best friend in the world. We had gone through hell and back together. I’d held her close and cried with her when she lost her unborn child four months ago. Spent countless hours on the phone with her in the middle of the night when she had broken things off with her boyfriend not long afterward.

  And now she was making out with my boyfriend at a stupid society Christmas party that everyone who was anyone was attending. The spectacle Bianca was making of herself would be all over the tabloids come morning and would stay there until well after the new year. And I…I would have to sit and watch it all.

  The sparkling diamond on my ex-best friend’s left hand glimmered in the excellent lighting as she thrust her fingers into Keith’s hair. Hair that I had felt tickle my own fingertips just a week before. The sight of the ring made my stomach roil, and I turned away so I wouldn’t have to see the family heirloom I had hoped would one day grace my hand.

  “Kari?”

  Slowly, I raised my head and briefly met the gaze of Hunter Winthrop. To look at him, one would never realize he was Keith’s brother. The two looked nothing alike. Acted completely opposite. Hunter’s dark blond hair was cut shorter than Keith’s own jet-black that always seemed to be in need of a trim. Hunter’s blue eyes were warm and friendly more often than not, as compared to his older brother’s cool green eyes that were always assessing every situation. Hunter was an inch or so shorter than Keith’s six foot four, but when compared to my five feet six inches, both men seemed like giants to me. Both brothers were devastatingly good-looking and disgustingly rich to the point of being indecent.

  But when it came down to it, I felt nothing but affection for Hunter. Whereas Keith could make me ache with just a raise of his sardonic eyebrow.

  “Kari?” Hunter grasped my elbow when I began to sway on my feet. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he murmured, concern darkening his kind eyes.

  Tears burned my eyes and stung my nose as I tried to keep them at bay. “I…” I took a deep breath and swallowed hard to dislodge the emotional knot that seemed to be suffocating me. “I just want to go home,” I whispered, lowering my eyes to stare sightlessly at my silver Jimmy Choos. The shoes went well with my sparkling silver dress, and I had thought I looked like a shimmering snowflake.

  Hunter grunted as he glanced over my shoulder and saw the reason for my distress. “Bastard!” he bit out under his breath as he no doubt saw his brother with his tongue down Bianca’s throat.

  “Hey, you two!” came a new, deep voice.

  I lifted my head once more and then quickly looked away. It hurt to look at Christian nearly as much as it did to look at the couple downstairs. Within moments of his arriving and finding me, he was boiling with rage of his own.

  “What the hell is going on?” he bit out.

  My chin trembled. “They say they are getting married,” I whispered.

  “I…” He raked a hand through his hair. “But…”

  Hunter shook his handsome head and wrapped his tux jacket around my trembling shoulders. It did nothing to alleviate the cold which had seeped into my very bones. “I don’t know what to tell you, Chris.”

  For the last few weeks, I had been secretly meeting with Christian. Helping him plan tonight just right. After his heartbreaking breakup with Bianca, he had realized all the mistakes he’d made with her and wanted to make it right. We had searched all over New York for the right ring, and he had been so excited about proposing to Bianca tonight.

  But now, none of the romantic things I had helped to put into motion for my once best friend would ever take place.

  I pulled Hunter’s jacket closer. “Will you take me home?” I asked, not sure which man I was talking to. Not caring as long as I got to go home and wash the night off my skin.

  “Of course,” Hunter assured me, his deep voice gentle as if I were an injured child who needed taking care of. Maybe I was right then.

  “No.” Christian grasped my elbow. “Let me.” He sounded hurt and angry and distracted, but he was still concerned for me. If I hadn’t been so distraught, I might have been touched.

  I mumbled a good night to Hunter as he kissed my cheek. Christian guided me downstairs and through the ballroom. I could feel eyes on me from every direction. Could hear the whispers and gasps and snickers from my other so-called friends as we made our way through the crowded ballroom toward the exit and my salvation. I knew as soon as Keith turned his attention from his new fiancée to me. My skin began to heat for the first time all evening, and I raise my devastated gold eyes to meet his hostile emerald ones.

  Underneath all my pain and the remains of my shattered heart, anger began to b
oil. I had loved that man with my whole heart, had given him everything that I was and asked for nothing in return except that he cherish me. But he hadn’t, and now I was broken. And for what?

  My gaze went to my ex-BFF. Her wraith-like figure had just a hint of curve to confirm she had a woman’s body. Her pixie-cut dark hair was perfectly styled, and those ice blue eyes were currently shooting daggers at me. She was gorgeous, and she knew it. I was nowhere close to her in the looks department.

  Why are they glaring at me? I couldn’t understand it. They told me they had realized all their supposed hate and disdain for one another was really love. That they had been secretly meeting for a while now, and that they just couldn’t help themselves. So why was I getting the evil eye from them when they were the ones destroying me?

  Beside me, Christian was simmering with rage and hurt. As we passed the couple, I put a hand on his arm, silently pleading for him not to make a scene. I just couldn’t handle that on top of the humiliation that those two had already put me through. “I want to go home,” I choked out.

  He gazed down at me, taking in my no doubt deathly pale complexion, tear-glazed golden eyes, and trembling body. Some of his pent-up rage eased, and he dropped a kiss on my forehead before gently tugging me toward the exit.

  I breathed a sigh of relief once we were outside and Christian had given the valet his ticket. “Thanks for getting me out of there,” I murmured.

  His shoulders, still tense with suppressed anger, lifted slightly in a shrug. “Anything for you, Kari.”

  It was snowing. I pulled Hunter’s tux jacket closer around me and gazed up at the snowflakes falling. I’d forgotten my own coat, but that seemed trivial compared to all the things running through my mind at that moment. “This used to be my favorite time of the year.” I smiled grimly. “Now, I think I hate it. And I hate them for making me hate it.” I surprised even myself when the first tears fell, and a sob escaped me.

  “Kari!” Christian pulled me close, and I buried my face into his tux. “Hush, Kari. Don’t do this to yourself. He isn’t worth it. Neither is she.” His deep voice sounded choked, and it only made me cry harder, great gulping sobs that made my cold body hurt.

  Thankfully, the valet returned quickly with Christian’s Jag, and he helped me into the front passenger seat before getting in himself. I leaned my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes, not even bothering with the seat belt. He drove slowly and carefully as the snow fell harder. It was going to take at least an hour to get to my father’s house in this weather, but I couldn’t face going back to the apartment or the Winthrop estate.

  New York was surprisingly quiet for once. Most of the city dwellers had already left to visit family for Christmas, which was only a few days away. It was growing close to midnight, and there were only a few cabs and other vehicles on the roads in what looked like the beginnings of a blizzard. Christian turned on the radio so we weren’t sitting in complete silence with our shared pain.

  He stopped at a red light several blocks from the hotel where the Christmas gala was, and I placed my hand on his over the gearshift. His big, warm hand turned over and clasped my much colder one. “We will get over this,” he promised fiercely, and I tried to smile, wanting to believe him but knowing I was never going to recover from the betrayal the two people I loved most in the world had committed.

  There was a sudden blinding light from the headlights of a big SUV right behind us, and I craned my head enough to look out the rear window. The driver isn’t slowing down for the red light! I gasped in dismay half a second before the tank-like vehicle hit us, going well over the speed limit.

  I was instantly jolted forward, realizing a split second before we were pushed into oncoming traffic that I should have put on my seat belt. But there was no time to try to rectify my error as we were hit again from the passenger side, and I felt the tearing pain of glass as I got thrown through the windshield…

  I lay there broken, bleeding, and cold, frowning up at the snow-filled clouds. As unconsciousness descended on me, all I could think was… Now, maybe this pain in my heart will go away.

  ***

  I hurt all over, especially my head, and there was a constant beep-beep-beeping that was annoying the hell out of me. I wanted it to stop. Just wanted the peace back from the numbness. But the beeping continued, only making the pain in my head that much worse. I couldn’t open my eyes to see where the noise was coming from, and I couldn’t speak to ask someone to turn it off.

  ***

  Someone was weeping, the sound worse than the insistent beeping that echoed inside my head, almost like a bell tolling the hour. I just wanted both noises to stop, but I couldn’t figure out how to make my vocal cords work to ask them to hush. Warm, trembling hands touched my cold ones. My heart ached from the terrible sounds—such gut-wrenching sounds—coming from the person crying. I couldn’t be sure if it was male or female. All sounds were distorted, still echoing through my head and making me claw at the walls of darkness as madness tried to consume me.

  But those sobs, they were even worse than the pain in my head. I knew they were coming from someone I loved.

  Someone who loved me.

  I reached out, needing to hold them, touch them, and tell them it was all going to be okay. But I couldn’t move...

  ***

  Someone shouting pulled me back from the blissful darkness, the sound making me weep mentally with the pain because I couldn’t do so physically. I didn’t know who was shouting, who was hurting me with their loudness, but there was pure hate in the voice.

  I shuddered, wanting the loud voice to stop, wanting away from the owner of that voice, but the pain that wouldn’t cease.

  The beep…beep…beeping was getting louder, faster, more insistent. Someone screamed, and there were even more loud voices, but at least the shouting had finally stopped. I tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but my chest hurt nearly as bad as my head did now. The beeping grew so loud, I flinched away from the sound, wishing it would stop, wishing for only peace…

  As a new darkness began to float above me, enticing me to let it blanket me from the pain and the fear of the noises going on around me, that beep-beep-beeping suddenly turned into a long beep, and I fought for my next breath as the room around me became oddly quiet.

  one

  “I don’t want to spend the summer with you and your new husband. Why can’t I stay with Daddy?” I grumbled as I shot my mother a glare.

  “Because your father is going to be in Dubai all summer, and it isn’t a place for you.” Mindy Brandon Winthrop informed me as she pushed me into the back of the limo.

  I rolled my golden eyes at the still beautiful woman that was my mother but said nothing as the driver shut the door behind her and pulled away from the private loading area of JFK. I had been away at boarding school in Paris for the last nine months, and while glad to see the gorgeous creature who brought me into this world, I would much rather have been in the desert with my father.

  Mindy, with her perfectly colored and highlighted blond hair pulled back into a ponytail, turned to face me in the seat as we began the long trip out of the city toward my newest stepfather’s estate. My mother, as much as I loved and adored her, was a serial trophy wife. She loved to get married and just as quickly divorce the poor sap who had been a sucker enough to have put his expensive ring on her dainty finger.

  But I also knew that her new husband was not the run-of-the-mill rich sucker. Charles Winthrop had more money than the nation had debt. He had his Midas touch in every business venture—shipping, timber, aviation, and banking, just to name a few. At fifty-eight, he was still exceptionally good-looking, or so I’d noticed from the gossip magazines I had seen with his and my mother’s pictures in them over the last few weeks. He had silver-laced dark hair with a strong jaw and eyes as blue as a summer sky. He appeared in incredible shape from the picture that had been on one of the more reputable magazines covering Charles and Mindy on their honeymoon. Dam
n, but not many men hitting close to sixty still had hard abs and well-toned biceps.

  Sure, my father was still in great shape, but my father was only thirty-seven and a freak when it came to his daily trips to the gym.

  “So how was school?” Mindy lifted a brow when I just shrugged my shoulders. “What? You and Bianca didn’t do anything interesting since I last saw you in March?” She snorted when I just smirked at her. “Thought so. How is the pixie princess?”

  “Mother! Stop calling her that. She’s my best friend. And you know how she hates to be reminded of her Tinker Bell likeness.” But I grinned nonetheless. “Bee is spending the first part of the summer with her parents in Greece. But she’ll be back in plenty of time for us to go apartment hunting. I want something close to NYU.”

  Mindy rolled her own golden eyes. “You could go to Harvard or Yale. Even Princeton if you wanted to. But because Bianca only got into NYU, that is where you want to go too.”

  “Mother,” I sighed, knowing this was going to come up and not wanting to get into it with her. Again. “We have discussed this already. I refuse to get into yet another argument with you over it.”

  “Fine.” She pouted like a fifteen-year-old when she was well into her thirties. “But don’t say I didn’t try. You won’t always want Bianca Carrington around.”

  “Well, for now, I do. So change the subject, or stop talking to me.”

  Mindy grunted delicately and turned to glare out of her window. I grinned and pulled out my cell phone. There was a message from my father wanting to know if I had arrived yet. I quickly texted him back because I knew he was busy and would worry about me. Almost immediately, he sent me a return text.

  Have a good summer. Love you.

  “Charles is really excited to meet you.” My mother had recovered quickly from her pout and was ready to talk to me once more. “And his sons are so dreamy. If I were a few years younger, I might have been tempted to go after the oldest one. But you know how I favor older men.”