Our Broken Love - Terri Anne Browning

Our
Broken
Love
USA TODAY BEST SELLING AUTHOR
TERRI AN N E
B R O W N I N G
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 boil. 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. Damn, 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.”
Yes, I did know. In fact, her last husband had
been several years older than Charles Winthrop.
And if this husband was anything like the last one,
then I was going to hop on the first flight to Dubai
and tell my mother what she could do with her dirty
older men!
But I didn’t bother to tell her any of that as we
continued our trip. We kept up an easy flow of
conversation, most of which was about school, my
new stepbrothers, and the party Mindy was
planning. My mother loved to throw a good party.
Finally, we arrived at the Winthrop estate, and
I got my first real look at the place. The drive up to
the house was two miles from the main road, and
the house was as big as a hotel, all gray-stone and
old-money elegance. It was so incredibly beautiful
that I didn’t take in anything else at first. But after
a few moments, I noticed the stables in the distance
and the small man-made lake farther off.
The chauffeur pulled to a stop in front of the
house and quickly opened my door. I offered him a
small smile as I let him help me out. “Thank you.”
He inclined his head but was otherwise stiffly
formal.
My mother was already out on the other side
and in the arms of her new husband. I took my time
moving around the side of the car. When Mindy
pulled back from Charles at last, they were both
wearing dazed expressions, and I had to force
myself not to make a gagging noise.
Charles turned his attention to me, giving me a
once-over, but in more of a fatherly way, rather
than the way Mindy’s last husband used to do. I let
out a small, relieved sigh, thankful she hadn’t
married another dirty old man.
“So, this is Kari!” Charles grinned and offered
me his hand. He had big, long-fingered hands, I
noticed as I put mine in his. “It is wonderful to
finally meet my lovely stepdaughter.”
I smiled because it was hard not to smile at
Charles. He might have been a shark in the business
world, but he appeared to be quite charming and
good-natured in private. “So you must be Charlie.”
His brow wrinkled for half a second before he
threw his head back and roared with laughter.
“Sunshine, no one has called me Charlie since I
was in grammar school… But you… Yeah, I’ll let
you.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Wouldn’t have
mattered if you did or not.” I winked at him before
following my mother up the steps and into the
house while he and the driver worked on getting my
many bags inside.
“I see it is going to be a fun-filled summer
already,” he said wit...