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“What is your problem?” he snarls.

“My problem is you still think I am that naïve nineteen-year-old girl who you seduced out of her virginity. I am no longer a child, Markis.”

His gaze narrows. “What does this have to do with your insubordination?”

“You’re bedding her,” I growl, pointing to the young female vampire that has just stepped out of the house.

Markis glances over his shoulder at Toraya. I watch as lust, guilt, and then indifference change his features. When he turns back to me, his face is void of emotion.

“Do you have proof?” he asks in a mocking tone.

I stared at him. Everything I once thought was so catching about him melts away right now. His dark brown skin seems dull and ashy. Those lips that once toured my body with such a gentleness look crusty and unclean. The wide nose that once strongly spoke of his African ancestry looks too big for his face now. And the dark, nearly black eyes that I once thought held so much intelligence look soulless.

I smirk at him. His attention has been elsewhere so much lately that he does not know who I am anymore. Taking the memories from the female vampire behind him, I push them into his head. Every single thrust, every kiss, every time she has called his name in that way I used to. Every claw at his back from her nails. Every single word of love he’s whispered to her in their time of passion. I shove it into his head. He grabs his forehead.

“Stop,” he roars.

I don’t stop. I continue to show him everything they have done. I stop purposely, on the memory of him lying beneath her, her head resting on his chest as he strokes her long blond hair. The words he whispers to her cause a pain in my chest.

“She is only a tool in my plan. A weapon I use to get what I want. When I find the key, I will have no more use for her, and you will take your rightful place.”

“And the baby?” she asks, looking up at him.

He kisses her brow. “You have given me the greatest gift in the world. You will be my true mate.” I snatch out of her memories, causing her to crumble to the ground. Markis’s head is so well protected I could never get inside his mind. But that bitch doesn’t know me.

Markis stares back at me with wide eyes in amazement.

“How did you do that?”

It should hurt me more than it does realizing that I’m nothing more to him than I was to my father. A tool. Something for him to use just to get what he wanted. Even his response to what I showed him proves I’ve meant nothing to this man. His first reaction isn’t to ask for forgiveness or address his cheating. No, he is more concerned about my sifting.

“You are incredible,” he laughs. “I knew you could do this. I wanted you to find that memory. I planted it there.”

Once again, I look back at him, trying to see the man I saw before. All I see is the monster. Maybe, if I was still that foolish young girl, I would believe his lies. But the beating of that baby’s rapid heartbeat is my proof.

“You will never get the chance to use me again,” I say to him before turning away.

Walking away from that tiny home, I realized I’d had enough. Markis didn’t know it then, but he’d just made an enemy out of me.

I come awake abruptly sitting up in bed. Swiping at my cheeks, I pull my hand away and find them red with tears. No matter how long ago that day was, the pain of finding out the man I thought I’d been madly in love with was never in love with me, still hurts.

“Whoa.” I look up to find Phaedra stepping into the room with me.

Glancing around, I take in my surroundings. I was in some type of hospital style room. The white walls and antiseptic smell giving it away.

“Where is Enzo?” I ask as she approaches.

“He’s resting.”

Pulling the covers off my legs, I go to stand. I needed to see him. The last memory I had of him was him fighting that vampire.

“Where are you going?” Phaedra asks, when I stand up on my wobbly legs.

“To find him. I have to see him.”

She laughs. Moving around me, she pulls the curtain beside my bed back. I stop when I find Enzo, lying on the bed beside me, sound asleep. He looks so large lying on the small hospital bed. His feet hanging off the end. I take in his features. His thick dark beard and straight nose along with those full soft lips. Most importantly, I pay attention to the rise and fall of his wide chest. He’s alive.

“Well, I’ll be,” Phaedra says beside me.