He came here for me. Shit. That’s what he’s saying. He could care less about it being Alexandre’s birthday celebration. Oh, no. He finally had the chance to corner me—and that’s exactly what he’s done.
The rest of the room disappears. It’s just me and Eric’s blue eyes and the gold wedding ring weighing heavily on my finger.
He’s glaring at it. “Take it off.”
“What? No!”
“I’m not asking, Annaliese. I’m telling you. You’re not married. You can’t be. Now. Take. It. Off.”
I shake my head. “You should leave, Eric, before?—”
“Before what?” he snaps. “Before your husband decides to come over here? Let him. Whatever sniveling Order member youfucked to give you that… why, yes. I think Idowant to meet him.”
Oh, no.
No.
I thought my husband would be safe. That, no matter who I married, Eric would get the hint that he was off-limits. This isn’t a one-night stand, even if Sebastienwasmy one-night stand. I’m married, and the only two who know for sure that this is a marriage of convenience are the two who signed the marital agreement that evening in Sebastien’s living room.
Alexandre thinks it’s real. So do my folks, and Sebastien’s. I’m pretty sure Sebastien’s friends—brothers—know better, but they’ll keep his secrets.
Just like I’ll keep mine.
“That’s not a good idea,” I say weakly. “You should go.”
“Only if you come with me,” Eric counters.
What? “I can’t.”
“Of course you can. I’m done playing these games, sweetheart. You will unblock my number. You will get into my car. You will come home with me, and if you’re lucky, I might buy you a diamond to replace that cheap-ass band on your finger.” He leans in, so close I can smell the booze on his breath. “Take it off, sweetheart. Let’s see if your finger’s green.”
I fist my hand. I love my ring. It’s like a shield, and there’s no way in hell I’m removing it until the year is up.
I’m just about to tell him that, too, when a very familiar male voice cuts in through the thrum-thrum-thrumming of my pulse, the thudding of my anxious heart, and the din of the crowd suddenly slamming back into me.
“Excuse me. I’d like a moment with my wife.”
Sebastien.
TWENTY
PERMANENT
SEBASTIEN
Ifinally found the fucker.
Now, did I expect that it would happen during Alexandre’s party? Nah. We just left the invitation open to whoever wanted to show up. Because Alexandre may hate the expectations that being a high-ranking member of the Order… the first son of a founding family… have thrust on him, but the Orderishis life. He uses it to get perks, to get women, and to progress in his career. To celebrate his thirtieth belatedly, I hired my wife to throw a party that’s for Alexandthe Order. So long as you’re affiliated with the Owed in some way, you had an in. It was easier that way than getting a list of exactly who my brother wanted at his birthday bash.
And while all that is true, I won’t deny that I had an ulterior motive. It’s been nearly two months since Annaliese asked me to marry her. It’s bothered the shit out of me that, no matter how close we’ve gotten—and, okay, forcing her to come live with me helped with that—she refuses to talk about the Order member who ‘ruined’ her. This is an Order party. Maybe the fucker would show up.
I get it. I do. When she had questions in her eyes after Hilary mentioned Julie in front of her, I shut that down. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Annaliese about her so I didn’t. Making her tell me about her past… if I want to keep her right where I have her, I needed her to tell me herself.
But now I don’t have to.
Because I knowexactlywho hurt her.
Eric Ward. A lawyer that works at the same firm that Des used to before Adrian took care of him, he’s one of the old guard. A friend of Jack Collins, and a smarmy prick that thinks he’s too good for the Used. I’ve heard about him. He used to go down to the Court, but he was too rough, too mean, and he got the idea in his head that they should go to him just like the girls did the former King. That was a couple of years back. He stopped visiting the Court, and since all of Harmony Heights knows that Eric’s wife, Cicely, has been in a long-term relationship with the gym teacher at the high school, rumors ran that he found a live-in mistress of his own.
