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Holy shit. “Is that what happened?”

“The men have their fun. The women… they play their part. He wouldn’t give up his mistress, but he wouldn’t give my aunt the freedom to live her own life when he no longer wanted her as part of his. So instead of a marriage of convenience, he took the cheap way out. And now my aunt is dead, and Jack can fuck anyone he wants.”

I want to ask if he’s sure. I want to know how that affected him. And Dallas… poor Dallas. It was common knowledge as kids that he hated his dad and worshipped his mom. Five years ago… Dallas would’ve been twenty-three when she died.

I was sixteen when I lost my mom, and I miss her every fucking day. But she was sick, not murdered, and suddenly I see why it wasn’t a big deal to Jack when Adrian gunned down Desmond…

Adrian Claimed me. I was his Offering, and now I’m his wife. I’ll be the first to admit I haven’t made it easy, and he doesn’t deserve for me to.

But… “Would you do that to me?”

I don’t have to elaborate. Adrian knows exactly what I mean.

He takes my chin in his hands. “No.”

I close my eyes, letting his warmth and his denial wash over me.

His voice becomes more determined. “I’m not fucking lying, Loni. You are the only person in this fucked-up world that is safe from me.”

I blink, looking up at him, taken aback by the sincerity in his words. I almost believe him… but, hell, I can’t forget the past. He told me I had to… to forget the past, focus on the future… but Ican’t. “It didn’t used to be like that.”

“Because I was a fucking idiot. Simple as that. I did what I thought I had to, and if I pushed you away, at least you were safe. But I finally have you where you belong. You’re here, with me, and there isn’t anyone I won’t sacrifice to be your husband.”

It’s always been that I’m his wife. Having Adrian refer to himself asmyhusband?

“Adrian—”

“It was always going to be you and me. The Kingmaker and his princess. But I knew better than to try and Claim you before I had all the cards. The deck’s stacked now, though. Those books… they’re my safety net. But it’s not my safety I’m worried about. It’s yours.”

Fuck. This time, I kind ofdobelieve him.

No. I shake my head, loosening his hold on me. Recognizing that I need space, Adrian lets go of me. I dart around him, heading closer to the fireplace, flames licking at the grate, the warmth a sensation I need desperately.

He grabs the back of the desk chair again, forcing himself to stay there instead of coming after me.

“I was a stupid kid who thought I could make it up to you. That, being an Offering yourself, you’d eventually understand the games we’re forced to play in the Order. But you left, and I stayed behind so that none of us could hurt you again.” A shadow falls over his face. “Especially me.”

I look away, taking in the spilled papers, the folder with my name on it, the book open to the page dedicated to the firm I work for…

My stare returns to him, my chest breathing hard and trying to hide it. “You’re acting like this is some noble mission. That you’re a hero. You made deals with monsters, Adrian.”

A whisper of his usual smirk. “If only, Loni. Ibecameone. For you.”

My stomach tightens now. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“No,” he agrees softly. “But youneededme to.”

“Control,” I breathe out. That’s what this is about. What it’salwaysbeen about. He let me have it just the once, then snatched it right back… but in reality? He never handed over anyof it. “You’ve done everything you can to control me. I still don’t see how love is involved at all.”

With those as my final words, I start to leave again. This time, Adrian doesn’t stop me.

As I pass the desk, something metal tinkles as it hits the top of it.

My head turns, and I see there’s a small ring of keys there that wasn’t there before.

I shake my head and keep walking.

“Take the keys. Unlock the drawers.” His voice follows after me like cigarette smoke. “Go through the books, Loni. Read every fucking line. See who I’ve helped, who I’ve protected. Who I paid off, and who I cut out. Then do me a favor. Ask yourself if a man who doesn’t worship the damn ground you walk on would threaten an entireempireto make sure that I’m the only one you could ever be Owed to.”