And I need to figure out whether I can still trust the man I'm falling in love with.
CHAPTER 23
LOCHLAN
The air changeswhen she walks into the penthouse after work. My eyebrows knit together. Something’s definitely wrong.
I'm on the couch going through security reports. She doesn't say a word. Doesn't look at me. Just drops her bag on the counter and stands there with her back to me, spine rigid, shoulders locked up tight like she’s ready for a fight.
Reaper lifts his head and lets out a whimper. Even the dog can tell shit's about to go sideways.
“Hey.” I put the laptop on the coffee table and stand up. “What's up? Did something happen?”
She turns around slowly, and fuck. The look on her face makes my gut clench. Her eyes blaze with a mix of anger and hurt.
“When were you going to tell me?” Her voice is low and controlled, which is somehow worse than if she were screaming at me.
I rake a hand through my hair and take a few cautious steps toward her. “Tell you what?”
“About the Russians. About Wolfe intercepting their communications.” She crosses her arms over her chest, putting a wallbetween us. “About another attack being planned against my family.”
What the fuck?
“Adriana, what are you talking about? I don't know anything about?—”
“Your father came to see me today.” She practically spits the words out. “He showed up at my office to deliver the news personally. And he made damn sure I knew that he considered telling you first, but decided I should hear it directly since I'm supposedly in charge.”
Rage bubbles in my chest. That son of a bitch. Of course fucking Eamon would pull a stunt like this. Of course he’d go behind my back and use information I didn't even have to mess with her head.
“Look, I swear to God, I had no idea about any of this. If Wolfe found something, he didn't tell me.” I inch closer. “Whatever my father said to you, whatever game he's playing, I'm not part of it.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?” Her voice cracks, and Christ, that sound guts me. “How do I know you haven't been reporting back to him this whole time? Telling him everything about my business, my decisions, my… weaknesses?”
I stare at her. She actually thinks I would do that? After everything that happened between us?
“You think I've been spying on you for my fucking father?” I try to keep the rough edge from my words, but I can’t because how the fuck could she think I’d have gone behind her back like that? My gut clenches with the knowledge that because of my father, I’m already carrying too many secrets since this whole contract business came up, and it haunts me every day. “After everything we've been through? After last night?”
She flinches at the mention of last night, and a flicker of guilt shadows her tense expression. But she still doesn't back down.
“I don't know what to think anymore.” She presses herfingers to her temples. “I lost a forty-million-dollar account today because I've been too distracted. The Russians are planning another attack, and I had to hear about it from your father instead of from you. And then that arrogant asshole stood in my office and told me I'm not capable of handling my responsibilities. That maybe you two should step in and take over.” Sparks of anger shoot from her hardened gaze, her face flushed a deep red.
My hands curl into fists at my sides. Every word she says makes me want to put them through a wall. Or through my father's face.
“He said what?”
“You heard me.” Her jaw tenses. “He said this isn't a part-time job. That if I can't dedicate the effort and energy, you should both step in and take the burden off my shoulders.”
I'm going to fucking kill him.
“Adriana, listen to me.” I struggle to keep my voice steady even though I'm vibrating with fury. “Whatever my father told you, whatever doubts he planted in your head, they're lies. I am not working with him against you. I would never do that. The whole reason I agreed to this marriage was to protect the people I love from him, not to help him hurt someone else. Especially you.”
Her expression wavers for just a second. The woman who fell asleep in my arms last night is still in there somewhere, behind her self-constructed blockade of anger and disappointment.
“Then why didn't you tell me about the Russian communications?”
“Because I didn't fucking know.” I fist my hair and pace in front of the kitchen island. “I haven't talked to Wolfe in three days. I haven't talked to my father since the wedding. If there's intel about another attack, he kept it from me on purpose so he could use it to get to you. That's how he operates. He plays people against each other and messes with their heads so they don’t even know which end is up anymore.”
She stares at me for a long moment, searching my face for any sign of deceit. I let her look. I've got nothing to hide.
