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“Like we talked a couple days ago?” he asked, his voice cool and calm. “More lies, Sawyer? How stupid do you think I am?” He yelled the last question. The burst of temper sent chills down my spine. The fact that he was going from emotionless to white-hot rage without any kind of provocation was proof of his fractured mental state.
“I’m sorry,” I quickly said, hoping to defuse his anger. “You’re right, I did lie. I was surprised to see you and I didn’t know what to say.”
The words seemed to mollify Marcus because he nodded solemnly.
“We can talk now,” I suggested. “For as long as you want. My car is right outside. We can go anywhere you want.”
“Like to that little piece-of-shit house you bought?” Marcus asked. “You forgot to mention that when you promised me you’d think about coming home.”
Marcus chose that moment to step forward. It was all I could do not to move as he closed the distance between us. His expression was tight as he held my gaze but when he dropped his eyes to my neck, his features actually softened. When he reached his free hand out to brush his fingers over the bruising around my throat, I wanted to throw up. I didn’t want him touching me. Not now. Not ever again. But I remained still because I needed to keep this about getting Riley and Theo to safety.
“Marcus, you said you wanted to talk. Please—”
“I wanted to talk before you ran away like a spoiled brat! I wanted to talk when you were hiding out in the fucking woods studying wolf shit or feeding fucking bears or whatever the hell it was that you found so much better than me! Do you have any fucking clue what I’ve had to go through to find you so we could fucking talk?” Marcus snarled. “I gave you everything! I taught you how to dress, I showed you how to hold an adult conversation, I paid all your fucking bills so you’d never want for anything, my connections led to job offers you could only dream of! And you threw it all away for what? This piece-of-shit town that no one’s heard of? That ridiculous zoo in the middle of nowhere with your do-gooder friends? And that fucking cripple—”
Before he could finish the sentence, I slammed my fist into his jaw. The blow knocked Marcus’s head backwards, but he stayed on his feet. Before I could take advantage of him being off his guard, he punched me back and then my head exploded in pain as he brought the butt of the gun down on my temple. I staggered back but managed to stay upright.
“He will never love you like I do!” Marcus snarled.
Although I was struggling to maintain my balance and I couldn’t see out of one eye, my scrambled brain somehow made sense of Marcus’s statement.
The mirror.
The message in the mirror.
“You were in the house?” I asked in disbelief. Since it was clearly Marcus who’d written the message on the mirror, it meant he’d been watching me in the shower. He’d probably even heard my conversation with Isaac.
God, Isaac.
How long had Marcus been in the house the previous day? He’d obviously waited until everyone was gone except for me and Isaac, but how long had Isaac been in danger without even knowing it? What if Marcus had decided to retaliate by hurting my friend?
I looked behind me and saw that Theo had his arms wrapped around Riley who was softly weeping against Theo’s shoulder.
“How did you know about this house? That my friends live here?” I asked Marcus even though I already knew the answer.
Not surprisingly, he didn’t respond. He just looked at me with a smug smile.
“You’ve been watching me,” I acknowledged. “Before you conveniently showed up yesterday,” I added. “How long?”
“Long enough,” Marcus replied with distaste. “Had I known how all those fuckers would practically lift their legs to claim you as theirs, I would have made sure our reunion was more private.”
I found myself laughing at his words. “Now who’s lying?” I asked. I lifted my hand to wipe away some of the blood that was trickling down my forehead and into my wounded eye. “You had to prove you were still in control. That when all was said and done, you won. Because the great Marcus Gray doesn’t lose. Ever. Not in the courtroom and sure as shit not in his personal life. So now what? You won again. You proved you were smarter than me and everyone else. You got a glimpse of your pet bowing down before you yet again. What’s next? You want to loan your fuck toy out to more strangers so you can get off? Oh wait, that’s right, the last time we were together you had a special surprise for me. I wonder how I missed the memo that a five-year anniversary was celebrated by drugging the supposed love of your life and handing him off to half a dozen strangers to be gang raped.”
