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The tone of Lyam’s voice tells me everything I need to know before Thayer speaks another word.
“Cosette, are you there?” Thayer’s harsh voice makes me flinch.
I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. I will myself to push through this, to tell them, to explain everything.
I manage a shaky, “Yes, I’m here.”
“Tell him, why don’t you?”
“I was going to,” I say in a whisper, but even I feel my words lack authenticity now. They took me into custody for betrayal, and now I know I’ve only confirmed their suspicions.
“François Montague is my father.”
* * *
FIFTEEN
Lyam
I thoughtI couldn’t protect her.
I thought that being with me meant that she wasn’t safe anymore.
I never dreamed she would betray us. Again.
I hang up the phone and shake my head, staring at her.
Disbelieving.
“You plotted against us,” I say, disbelieving the words as they come out of my mouth. “You actually did betray us.”
I think back on the day I took her into custody, the way I buckled her in the car and brought her back here with the intent to punish her for what she’d done.
I wanted to believe she was innocent, but deep down I knew she wasn’t.
When she told me her reasoning, I believed her. I let myself believe that we could make this work, that she’d have my baby and we’d marry each other and Cosette would be mine forever.
And now I know, she was never mine to begin with.
Who even is she?
“Lyam,” she says tearfully. “You have to believe me. He doesn’t even know who I am. We have no relationship. I hate Paris because of him. He had me with my mother when he was already married and in the public eye, so he never made it known to anyone.”
She goes on and on, but why wouldn’t she? I can’t even process the words she’s saying. Cosette knows who I am. She knows who my family is. She knows we would have killed her once for betraying us and now she’s left us no other choice.
But she’s pregnant with my child.
“If you’re innocent,” I say, interrupting her pleas. She reaches for me, and I push her away. If she were anyone else—I shake my head and draw in a breath, making myself stay calm despite the anger that rises in me like a tide.
Only the weak need to hurt the vulnerable.
“If you didn’t know him and have no affiliation with him whatsoever, then why didn’t you tell me? You knew there were politicians threatening us. You even knewMontaguewas involved. You had a hundred chances to tell me and yet you didn’t. So why should I believe you now?”
“Because you know I love you,” she says tearfully. “Because Iwouldn’tbetray you. I was going to tell you so many times but every time, I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
It looks as if the very words she speaks pain her to say them. “Afraid that if I told you, you’d leave. That you wouldn’t want me. That you wouldn’t believe the truth.”
