Page 57 of Beautiful Revenge

“Why did you tell me?”

“Because we all fuck up. I don’t know what you did, but did anyone die?”

I can’t look at him. He has a way of reading me like a simple owner’s manual. I hate how transparent I am.

My gaze shifts to our embrace to avoid his scrutiny.

He gives me a squeeze and returns to the demanding man I’m strangely getting used to. “Someone died?”

I give my head a quick shake. “No, but it was close.”

Devon frowns. “What the hell does that mean?”

My eyes angle up to connect with his stare. I’ve kept this secret so long, there are some days I wake up and wonder if it was all a nightmare. The only other soul who knows is Chrissie.

I exhale and say it before I have the chance to count the times I’ve mistrusted people over the last few months.

“Me.”

His blue eyes narrow on a confused glower. “You?”

I nod. “Yes. I almost died.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE CONTRACT

Devon

Harlow pulls her hand from mine and scrambles to her feet. “I can’t believe I just told you that.”

I stand and follow her to the edge of the pier where the water slaps against the wood with a rhythm that usually calms my soul.

But not tonight. I’m not sure what could calm me after what she just said.

I only thought I was obsessed with her before. The fact I allowed myself to touch her in the way I did might do me in. I move to her and wrap my hands around her bare shoulders. She doesn’t push me away but shivers and leans into my chest, giving me her weight as she looks up to the stars.

I pull her back tight to my chest as I fight my cock from hardening against the small of her back. There’s only so much I can do and the only thing that will help me win that battle is to focus on what she just told me.

I return to demanding. “If you think I’m going to allow you to give me the silent treatment after telling me that, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention to who I am. What do you mean you almost died?”

I feel her everywhere as she pulls in a deep breath. “Everything has been a whirlwind since I met Albert. Our families have their separate empires. I’m not sure when it happened, but my father and his grandfather had a falling out decades ago. Looking back, I wonder if that was part of my fascination with him. We talked like we were forging a new path for the future ... righting the wrongs of past generations. I felt it, but he did all he could to convince me to buy into that. The first couple of months we were together, we didn’t tell anyone. At least I didn’t. Knowing what I do now, I doubt that was the case for him.”

She’s finally talking, but she’s taking the long way around the story when all I want is to sink my teeth into the meat of it. I want to know what the fuck he did to her.

“In the beginning, he was perfect, charming, and thoughtful,” she goes on. “I hate that he was so easy to fall in love with. I should have known no one is that perfect. He made everything ... I don’t know.” She shakes her head as if to rid the memory from her brain. “He had a way of making everything easy. I jumped in with my whole heart and fell for it.”

I can’t take it any longer. I turn her in my arms but don’t let go. Her hands land on my pecs and mine press into the small of her back where my fingertips flirt with the curve of her ass.

It’s official. There’s no controlling my cock. At this point it would be cruel.

I’m too focused on controlling my rage when it comes to Albert Humphries, and I don’t even know what he did yet.

She doesn’t try to push away as I hold her tight. “What did that cocksucker make you fall for?”

I wait on bated breath hoping she finally tells me why she’s being the most cryptic yet enticing woman I’ve ever met. Sure, she’s sexy as hell, but the mysterious side of her pulls at something inside of me as much as her beauty does. Now that I’m right here with her in my arms, I don’t give a fuck that she was engaged just a few days ago and should be married to another man.

I want her.