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“Way ahead of you. Last night was my awakening.”
“Good boy.” Victor’s lips curled into a savage smile. “You won’t have any objection to taking your sweet, far-too-trusting jewel into the snuffbox, then?”
“Not at all.” Slowly, Henri turned on the spot. “I’m looking forward to it. Whatever it is.”
His eyes sought me out, searching for me in the guests and jewels, flaring as he found me alone, marooned on the grass.
Unlike before when he’d looked at me, no flash of togetherness forked between us. No secretive alliance bound us. No forbidden emotions webbed the longer we played our dangerous game.
He looked at me as if he finally accepted I belonged to him and was impatient to begin a very different story.
Stalking down the deck steps toward me, he cupped my elbows and helped me stand.
My skin recoiled.
My stomach revolted.
It took every effort not to spit in his face and run.
Running his thumbs softly over my skin, he dropped his stare to the red smudges still dirtying me from last night. “Watching those men touch you made me fucking rage, but seeing my fingerprints marking you in blood makes me so goddamn hard. You’re mine now. You’re truly, officially—”
“Get off me.” I squirmed to get away. “You’re a damn liar. You lied to me. You lied to me every time you opened your lying mouth!”
His fingers tightened into ice picks. “And now, I’m telling you the truth.”
“I hate you.” I struggled and jerked. “You’ll pay for—”
“I’ve been paying my entire life, little nightmare. It’s time someone else paid for a change.”
“And you’ve decided that I’m the one who has to pay?”
“I didn’t decide.” He shrugged. “Fate decided the moment we noticed each other at the bar.”
“Screw you.” I balled my hands, renewing my efforts to get free. “Do you honestly think you’ll get away with this?”
“I seem to be so far, yes.”
My heart cracked all over again.
Eyes prickled my skin from everyone watching. Jewels, Masters…every single person judging me for being so stupidly naïve.
There was no such thing as goodness in him…only evil.
I went limp in his hold. “Was any of it real?”
His fingers gentled on my elbows. “Most of it was. Especially the part where I told you not to fight me.” His eyes softened with sick gratitude. “Last night was the best night of my life, by the way. I want to thank you—”
“Fuck. You.” Temper turned my limpness back into struggles.
“Keep fighting me, Ily.” He smiled. “You saw what happens when you do, and I’m fairly certain I’m getting addicted to you. So…keep fighting. I beg you.”
I immediately turned to stone.
He huffed. A sadistic twinkle appeared in his grey gaze. “Spoilsport.”
“Go to hell.”
“Nothing’s changed between us, you know,” he murmured. “I still want you. I still find you the most delicious creature I’ve ever seen. The only thing that’s different is I’m no longer hiding how I feel—”
“Pity that you now disgust me.”
“Ah, don’t say that.” He smirked. “Your body likes me…I know that for a fact.”
Not caring that everyone watched us. Not caring how dumb I’d come across, or how pathetic I’d turned out to be, my voice cracked as I clung to hope one last time. “You let me believe you were a cop.”
“You were the one to jump to idiotic conclusions. To believe I could ever be good enough.”
“You lied to me. About everything.”
“I told you. Not everything.” He sighed. “If you must know, I tried. I really did. I hoped I’d have enough strength to ignore temptation and do what my brother asked of me. Unfortunately, you’re far too fucking tempting, and I’m so much happier now I’ve given in.”
“You’re the reason I’m here, you bastard.” I struggled again, fruitlessly. “You said you would get me home.”
“Ah, little nightmare.” He pressed the softest kiss on the tip of my nose. “You are home. We both are.”
Victor’s footsteps echoed as he came down the deck steps and joined us on the lawn. “No more whispering, Mercer. Everything you say to her is for all our ears.”
“No problem.” He smiled in a way I’d never seen. No strain. No stress. Only peace.
I forced myself to look into his eyes, searching for any shred of the Henri I knew before. The man who’d convinced me so entirely. The trickster who played me so spectacularly.
If I hadn’t cried my soul out last night, I would’ve shattered into tears.
Now…only numbness.
And betrayal.
And fear.
His gaze glittered back, silver and clear, his face unmasked and relaxed. Dragging me into him, he shifted his hands to my face.
A million needles stabbed me from his touch. I tried to push him away, but he just tightened his fingers until my cheekbones threatened to snap. “I want you.” Running his roughened thumbs over my cheeks, he reminded me of all the moments he’d stroked my hips with such tenderness.
