Surrender 01 - Surrender

Ryan figured Rafe’s wife was included in what Rafe was willing to share. Wrong.
    Rafe cleared his throat as Sharron screamed again in pleasure. The two of them froze — locked in their torrid embrace — before their heads turned and they looked at him in horror.
    Rafe walked from the room and waited downstairs. Almost immediately, Ryan scurried from the house with his head down. Sharron rushed toward Rafe and started to beg for his forgiveness.

    Rafe shook off the unpleasant memory as he glanced around him. For a single moment, he’d been shattered. He’d sacrificed so much of himself to please her — give her what she wanted — but none of that was enough. She’d wanted everything from him — namely all his net worth. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice; he never did.
    Rafe walked up the steps and stood just inside the bedroom door, looking warily around at the room where he’d slept beside that woman night after night. Shaking his head, he left and made his way toward his luxury kitchen. No memories lingered there. It wasn’t as though his wife had known the first thing about cooking.
    He had a full staff, which was a good thing. Otherwise his house would have been in shambles and he’d never have gotten fed. Sharron hadn’t been domestic in the least. He hadn’t cared about that — all he’d wanted was to have the same kind of family life with her as the one he’d grown up with. Before this moment, he’d been under the sad delusion that marriages could all have happy endings.
    A cold silence hung around him like a shroud, and Rafe was grateful he’d sent his staff away for the day. He didn’t need anyone witnessing his failure.
    Failure.
    He rolled the word around on his tongue. It didn’t sound right. How could it? Failure was a foreign concept to him. He’d been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. And his mother often teased him, saying he was an old soul in a young body.
    She was the only one who could get away with a remark like that — he adored her. Well, to be fair, his sisters got away with it, too, and for the same reason.
    Rafe had a sudden feeling that all his family members would be relieved to hear of the coming divorce, especially his mother, though she’d never admit it to him. She had tried to get close to his soon-to-be ex-wife, but somehow it had never happened. Had Sharron had any desire at all to know his family? Now that he thought of it, he couldn’t recall any evidence in her favor. True, he wouldn’t have noticed while the two of them were dating, because that was during the six months out of the year that his family resided in Italy. By the time his parents and sisters had returned for their six months in California, he and Sharron were already married.
    And then? It hit him right in the gut. From the very beginning, Sharron had been great at making up excuses for why she couldn’t visit with them. But he was in love and stupid and he just hadn’t noticed. If he had, he would never have become so serious about her. He’d been raised to believe that family always came first. Upon their marriage, he’d put her first, just as his father had put his mother first. Soon, he’d cut down on visiting his family —she’d said she couldn’t go, and he wanted to please her by remaining with her. He’d done a lot of things to make the woman happy.
    Apparently none of it had been enough.
    With a last glance around the kitchen, he lifted his cell phone and dialed. His call was picked up on the other end of the line before the phone could ring twice.
    “Sell the house. I want nothing in it,” Rafe said to his assistant in clipped tones.
    “Yes, sir.” There was no arguing. Mario had been an employee of his from the day Rafe had started his billion-dollar corporation. The man was loyal, efficient, and trustworthy. Rafe couldn’t imagine how much harder his job would have become without his favorite employee.
    Rafe had learned everything from his dad, Martin Palazzo, who had made millions in the stock market, and later in smart real-estate investments. Martin had met Rosabella, Rafe’s mother, while traveling for business in Italy. The two of them had been inseparable ever since, but Rosabella couldn’t stand to stay away from her homeland for more than six months at a time, which was why Rafe had spent half his childhood in Italy and half in the States.
    Because of his multicultural upbringing, he was much more prepared to take on the global