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He loves me.

And you know what?

I love him. I think I always have. That’s why it hurt so bad when we were kids and he didn’t stand up for me in front of Jack Collins. Heletme go, but now he’s promised that he never will again.

I’m going to hold him to it.

I give him an impish shrug. “No, thanks.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m okay. I don’t want an annulment. If the Order says I have to let him Claim me or whatever, I’ll do it. We can have a redo wedding where no one dies… but Adrian is my husband. I’m keeping him.”

Jack’s faux friendliness slips right off of his face. He sighs. “I should’ve known when he tried to Claim you after graduation that you would be a problem.”

Wait… he did?

Ignoring my sudden surprise, Jack continues, “I let you get away. I told your father to encourage you to stay away. I wanted Adrian to marry the Offering I chose. Not some silly little girl who couldn’t even wait until marriage. But no… you still cared for him after all these years. I thought it was fear that had yourunning. Then I used fear to get you to return… but you weren’t supposed to end up with my nephew.”

“Why not?”

“Because Adrian loves you.”

It’s a gut punch, hearing it from a man who looks like he’s never loved anyone a day in his life, but I refuse to let Jack see. “I’d hope so. I am his wife.”

Jack ignores my cheeky response. “In the Order, love is a liability. Marriages work out when two people of good breeding form a partnership. That’s what we need for the Order to thrive. Not love.”

He sounds so cold. SO heartless. And maybe I’m begin reckless, trying to get some emotion out of this man, but I remind him, “You were married once. You must have loved her.”

“Iwasmarried,” Jack agrees. His eyes dart to the window. A slow, sardonic grin pulls on his lips. “Accidents happen.”

I suck in a breath. Crap. Adrian was right. I mean, I didn’t doubt him exactly, but I never thought that Jack Collins would make it obvious to a mere Offering that he was responsible for his wife’s death. Accident? All of Harmony Heights believes Reese Collins jumped to her death… except for those who actuallyknowthis man.

I don’t. I’ve met him once, but it doesn’t matter. Because he has some fixation on his own nephew, he’s hated me the same way I thought Adrian did.

I can see it. In the derisive way he looks down his perfect nose at me, or the sneer he can’t quite restrain when he says shit like ‘dear girl’. He hates me, and I have a sinking feeling that I’m not going home to Adrian and Peaches anytime soon.

Accidents happen…

Another annoyed sign passes his lips. “This wasn’t supposed to be an issue. When the St. James boy decided he’d take you off my hands… for a very hefty fee, I’ll add… I thought Adrien wouldget over his silly fixation and do what he was told.” He huffs, yanking open his desk drawer. He pulls out an aged piece of paper with something rust-colored spilled in the center. He slaps it with the flat of his hand. “Who thought that he’d remember this?”

The slap makes it obvious what I’m looking at. It’s a bloody handprint. A really old bloody handprint.

Beneath it? Adrian’s familiar scrawl and a handwritten date.

July—ten years ago.

I suddenly understand. Why Adrian showed up at the wedding and, instead of trying to stop the wedding, he put an end to it by shooting Desmond. Why he disregarded the act as murder because, and I quote, he ‘had the right to do it’. A blood oath… if he spilled his blood while telling the King that he Claimed me, then hedid.

That date… it’s right after I told him I never wanted to see him again. I meant it, too. After Jack Collins said to me that Adrian got disgusted at the idea he was the boy I got caught fucking, I confronted him, then I blocked him, then I never saw him again…

Jack.

Jack told me.

Oh, no. Can I believe him? Can I believe anything he said back then when he’s revealing that he never planned on letting me marry into his family? The blood oath… if Adrian swore this in front of Jack—and I see the King’s seal in the corner so he must have—then his uncle knew that he intended on Claiming me at the ceremony, ‘disgust’ or not.

So that’s why it was so easy to disappear. That’s what this asshole wanted.