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Slipping into the bathroom with my toiletries, I stripped out of my clothes and stepped beneath the hot spray in the tiled enclosure.
I’d been in difficult situations before, almost all of them involved Knox. I needed him now. A moment of clarity loomed over me. Being invisible was easy when no one was looking.
I’d grown up understanding the dangers surrounding my family. Less powerful men would always want from those with more. Those with the most would do whatever was necessary not to lose what they had.
I was no longer invisible.
After turning off the water, I wrapped a towel around my torso and finger combed my damp hair.
I squeaked as if the oxygen was sucked from the room. Marco stood at the window. A towering darkness in the sunlight. Dark hair. Dark aura. Dark intentions because he wouldn’t stop until he broke me.
A starched, white dress shirt stretched across the cuts and sinew of his wide shoulders, defined his back and tucked into the waistband of the black trousers hugging his lean hips and molding to his muscular buttocks. His hands slid into his pockets.
“Your room is across the hall.” The smooth, cold tone of his voice rasped over my nipples, sent a shiver down my spine, seeping lower, tempting my pussy to clench. He was so beautifully brutal.
I glanced around the room. My luggage and boxes were gone. I released a shuddering breath. Maybe a night had brought clarity to both of us. I approached him and rested my forehead on his back. The scent of his cologne swirled around me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
He stiffened. “Sorry for betraying me, or sorry for getting caught?”
I took a step back.
He turned toward me, and the black hole in my chest threatened to drown me again. Whatever this was, it wasn’t forgiveness. “I’m sorry that you don’t trust me.”
“Give me a reason to trust you. I want his name.”
Tears filled my eyes. “That’s not trust, Marco. It hurts me to hurt you. But I can’t.” I shook my head. “I can’t do this.”
He took a step closer. “Be clear, wife. What can’t you do?”
“I can’t tell you his name. I won’t tell you anything about him. Yesterday, I was your enemy, a liar, and a cheater. You want his name to hunt him down. You know he’s Irish, and that’s all you need to justify killing him.”
“He had his hands on you! Professed his love.”
I couldn’t hide from the truth. If Marco hurt Knox, I’d never forgive him. “If you kill him, you kill me.”
Marco thrust his fingers into my hair, fisted his hands, and angled my face to his. “Do you love him? Don’t fucking lie to me.” He ground out the words through clenched teeth.
Marco wanted my dark truth. My heart pounded. I wasn’t in love with Knox, but I’d always love him. Marco wouldn’t care. I wouldn’t give Marco another reason to kill Knox. “I won’t ever see him again.”
Marco’s eyes narrowed to deadly slits. Still gripping my hair, my scalp stinging from the pull of his hands, he lowered his face to mine. Hot breath warmed my lips. “When I find him, and I will, you can watch him bleed out at my feet.”
Our faces inches apart, we stared at each other. The heated words made ashes of everything we could have been together. “I don’t love him.” My eyes closed, a tear slid onto my cheek, and I lied. “I can’t be your wife.”
“Because you’d rather be his whore?” His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. “Or to protect him, you’d proposition to be mine?” He released my head and took a step back. “Get dressed. My family is coming to our wedding. They’ll be here soon.”
“I need my phone.”
He paused at the door. “No.”
“Just to talk to Dee. Please.”
“You’ll see her tomorrow for the wedding.” He pulled the door closed.
Tomorrow? I dropped to my knees. Something was wrong with me. Part of me was terrified of the man who just walked away. A man who was determined to burn down the world. But a deeper, darker part heated with the ruthless possessiveness he felt for me.
***
