It was all right there. Staring me in the face.
I was so determined not to let Brett manipulate me that I turned a blind eye to all the signs, to the man who was doing most of the manipulating.
My heart trembles, cracks, and shatters. He betrayed me.
I clutch at my chest, because the pain feels entirely too real.
How did I make the same mistake again? What is wrong with me? How could I allow myself to get so taken in?
I blink against the stinging in my eyes. “And Sam…”
“Sam’s real name is—“ He swallows. “Was. His real name was Sandro. And he was sent away with me.”
Just when I think the pain can’t get any worse, it does. “Sam was part of it too?”
The fish tattoo. Their matching fucking tattoos. They fed me nonsense. Lies.
How was I so oblivious?
“He was one of our drivers. He was sent to keep an eye on me. Make sure I didn’t do anything stupid like try to go home or draw attention to myself by getting involved in things I shouldn’t.”
“Did you?”
“No. I didn’t.”
“But you did threaten Brett. He showed me photos of you pointing a gun at him. I told him they must have been doctored, but they were real, weren’t they?”
“They were real.”
Then a thought comes to me. Brett suggested something else too. Something that sounded crazy. Something that I was quick to dismiss…
“Rowan, did you start the fire in my house?” My voice is barely a whisper.
When he doesn’t answer, my gaze snaps to him.
His throat bobs with a swallow. “Yes.”
Time stops. The fury leaks out of me until there’s nothing left. I’m empty. Numb.Cold.
Slowly, I turn away from him, my unfocused eyes landing on the road. “Why would you do that?”
“I couldn’t let you leave. I wanted you.”
“Why?”
“Because!” he snaps. “Because I loved my old life, and it was taken from me with no warning. Rafe sent me away to save my life, but the moment I left New York, I became a dead man. I felt fucking dead, Blake.”
“You missed being a criminal?” There’s no inflection in my voice.
“I did. And then I saw you, and something about you eased the pain. And the more time I spent around you, the less it hurt. So I wanted you. I couldn’t let you leave.”
He wanted me, so he burned down my home?
He destroyed my chance at getting out of Darkwater Hollow?
He convinced me to live with him, date him, give myself to him?
What kind of psychopath does that?
