Page 51 of Enemies Under One Roof

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Time skidded to a screeching halt, and blood pounded in Ethan’s ears as shock short-circuited his brain.

Annie didn’t want him.

Annie was leaving him.

His stomach heaved, even though it shouldn’t matter she was going—because that’s what he’d wanted, too, wasn’t it? What he always did himself.

Except…

The pounding got louder, drowning out the frantic beat of his heart.

He loved her.

His body shook. That wasn’t possible, he didn’t do love.

Yet a collection of memories hit him like an anvil: Annie dressed like a rainbow as they did laps around the Virtues, showing him her failproof way to flick a pancake, twirling her pencil as she thought an idea through, laughing in his arms, moaning his name. His anguish when she’d revealed why she’d become Ivy in the wake of her parents’ deaths.

He loved her.

The room swayed and for a horror-filled moment he was sure he’d fall over until he dug his feet into the carpet. She wouldn’t bring him to his knees; he refused to allow it. Even if she could breeze out of here, two days before their agreement ended, like it was the easiest thing to do. Like he meant nothing to her.

Had it all been acting on her part, despite her earlier denials? His stomach heaved again as he fought for control.

Too late for that, Suerte!

He’d lowered his barriers, disclosed all the things he’d never shared with anyone else, not even Cam and Luc. Now she was walking out on him, abandoning him, when only a few hours earlier she’d been in his arms? Laughing and teasing, before telling him about her family and comforting him when he’d told her about his. He’d been with Annie, not Ivy, a woman he couldn’t get enough of. Yet she obviously didn’t feel the same way about him.

Disgust crawled along his skin. He’d known better than to let his guard down, let her slip between his defences. Hadn’t he spent his whole life determined to never let anyone do that to him again?

Never fall in love.

Never give anyone that power over him.

And he’d done it.

He’d come upstairs, wanting to make sure she was okay, because something hot and tight had lodged in his gut, knowing something had changed while they’d been in bed talking. Every instinct warned him that whatever it was, it wasn’t good, and it had hurt more than he’d thought possible to see her in pain and then shut down like she had while pushing him away.

Still, he hadn’t expected to find her packing, shaky and teary, making him want to unsheathe his sword and strike down whatever had put the stricken look on her face that no amount of Ivy makeup could hide.

But there was no monster to fight, only the sickening truth that she was leaving him just like his mother. He recalled all the times he’d seen the staff carry down her monogramed cases, always his first indication she was leaving, and now Annie was doing the exact same thing. He rubbed a hand down his face, trying to push back the past and vowing that Annie would never know how he felt about her.

Never.

No one could have that hold over him again, he’d promised himself that.

‘You’re getting ahead of yourself. This was never permanent,’ he snapped, self-protection rallying. Yet he got no satisfaction when she recoiled.

‘Exactly.’ Annie lifted her chin and brushed past him.

Unable to stop himself, he followed her down the sweeping staircase because there was something off he couldn’t put his finger on. He’d felt it when they’d been talking in bed when everything about her had suddenly changed.

Felt it? He almost groaned because he always dealt in facts, things that could be counted on. Stop stalling, Suerte, and head back upstairs. There’s no hidden meaning here. She just doesn’t want you. That’s why you recognise this feeling that your insides are being ripped out. You’ve been here before. You know this.

Still, he kept pace with her as she rushed along the wide hallway, a body-width gap between them, their feet muffled by the thick carpet, their ragged breathing the only sound until she stumbled and bumped into one of the large watercolours lining the walls and cried out.

He grabbed her and she gasped as he gripped her bare arm, her soft skin beneath his fingers.