Page 108 of Sinful Bride

The shooting downstairs has stopped. Faintly, a moment later, I hear the sounds of my men reconvening. But up here, it’s just me and Elena and two dead men on the floor.

I lower my gun and cross the room. She's shaking, her arms wrapped around herself, staring at her father and brother’s bodies.

"Elena."

She looks up at me, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'm so sorry. I don’t think I could have done it. I was going to… I know you saw me, but I didn’t want to; I didn’t, and I⁠—"

"I know." I reach for her, pulling her against my chest. She's trembling so hard I can feel it through my whole body. "I know."

"He was going to kill you. He was using me as bait. I tried to tell him I couldn't go through with it, but he⁠—"

"I know," I say again. "Lachlan and I talked. I figured it out."

She pulls back, looking up at me with red-rimmed eyes. "Then why did you come? You should have stayed away. You should have⁠—"

"I came because you're my wife." I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me. "And because I wasn't going to let anyone else use you against me. Not your father. Not your brother. No one."

"But I⁠—"

"You should be able to make your own choices, Elena. Not be pulled in any direction by your family. Or by me." I brush my thumb across her cheek, wiping away tears. "You deserve that. You deserve to choose your own life."

24

ELENA

I'm alone with Declan, in my childhood bedroom, with my father's body cooling on the floor ten feet away. With Alessio's blood seeping into the Persian rug my mother chose when I was seven years old. The room smells like gunpowder and copper. Like death.

My legs give out.

I don't fall. Declan catches me, his arms strong and steady around my waist. He guides me to the bed, the same bed I've slept in since I was a child, and sits beside me. His hand stays on my back. "Breathe," he says quietly. "Just breathe, Elena."

I try, but the air won't come properly. My chest feels too tight, my throat closing around sobs I can't control anymore. I don't know how to feel. My father manipulated and controlled me. My brother was happy to do the same. But they were also the only family I had left.

They were my family, and they betrayed me. But this man, the one I betrayed… in spite of everything, he's here.

"I'm sorry." The words burst out of me all over again. "I'm so sorry, Declan. I didn't—I couldn't⁠—"

"I know."

"No, you don't." I pull back to look at him, tears streaming down my face. "You don't know. You think I was working with him, that I was part of this, but I wasn't. I swear I wasn't." The words pour out in a rush as I realize he’s finally listening, and I tell him about what happened the night my father called me to his office. About the gun he gave me, and the poison, and the choice he offered. "He made it sound so simple," I whisper, my voice breaking. "Like it was just a business decision. Like you were just an obstacle to remove."

Declan's jaw tightens, but he doesn't interrupt.

"I thought about it," I confess, shame burning through me. It takes everything in me to keep looking at Declan as I speak. "For days, I thought about it. I told myself it was survival. That I didn't have a choice. That you were just some man I barely knew, and my freedom was worth more than your life. But I also knew how I felt about you. All the things leading up to that point, all the moments we had, all the ways you kept trying… everything was real, Declan. I swear it was. Nothing about it was a lie. My father convinced me that night after dinner, but we’d already slept together by then. I was… I was already falling for you.”

I take a shaky breath. “I fell for you the moment you listened when I asked you to stop that night in the bathroom, when I asked you to pull out. You didn’t argue, and then you went and bought condoms, of all things. No other man would ever have done that, that I’ve ever known. You gave me a choice, Declan. No one has ever done that before."

I look up at him through my tears. "I fell in love with you," I whisper. "I didn't mean to. I didn't want to. But I did. And when I stood over you that night with the gun, I couldn't do it. I physically could not pull that trigger. I kept telling myself to do it, to pull it, that I was going to do it… and then you woke up. And I realized too late that I could never have done it."

“I know that now,” he says, softer this time.

"I came here to tell my father I couldn't go through with it." The words tumble out faster now. "I was going to tell him I loved you. That I wanted to make our marriage work. That I chose you over everything he was offering me."

Declan's hand moves to my face, his thumb brushing away tears.

"But he laughed at me," I continue, my voice shaking. "He said it didn't matter anymore. That he'd already set his backup plan in motion. That he was keeping me here as bait, and when you came for me, he'd kill you." The memory of my father's cold smile makes me feel sick. "He locked me in here and posted guards outside. I was trapped, and all I could think about was that you were going to die because of me. Because I was stupid enough to think I could stand up to him."