Page 60 of Intense (Beneath The Blaze #3)
FINN
I can smell her fear, but under it, there’s arousal. That, I didn’t brace for.
She still hasn’t grasped the seriousness of this.
Even with the contract in front of her, she’s too busy trying to work out why I’m pissed off to put two and two together.
I doubt she ever thought I’d uncover her secrets.
But she’s throwing me off.
She’s not playing a game to push me away.
She’s dead serious about staying. About being my wife.
You can’t fake emotions like that. She’s no actress. I’ve studied her long enough to know the difference.
That flash of sadness in her eyes when she read the annulment clause—I put it there to test her. She passed.
It was a pointless clause, because neither of us gets to become a widow.
I shake my head. I need to get back to the game. I know she’s itching to learn more about me. About the scars on my chest. About my past.
I fascinate her as much as she does me. And that is my leverage here.
“In order to learn about me,” I say, keeping my tone even, “I need to know you understand there are always choices in life. One leads to the truth—happiness, let’s call it. The other brings pain and destruction.”
She nods.
I gesture to the two pills on the table. “But sometimes you don’t know which choice leads where. Sometimes the truth can hurt. Sometimes doing the wrong thing leads to happiness.”
Every word is measured.
I know she kills men for revenge.
No different than me.
I kill those who deserve it. And those kills… they feed something in me.
“And sometimes,” I continue, “you have to be brave and make a choice into the unknown.”
Her voice is soft. “Okay.”
“Are you brave, Stephanie?”
“Not always.”
I nod slowly. “Do you want to be brave now? Make a choice into the unknown? Put your trust in your husband?”
She exhales. “I guess so.”
“Good.” I lean forward, voice dropping lower.
“One pill will make you violently sick. A venom with an antidote I hold. Your life will be in my hands. The other will make you… unbearably horny, in this dose. Relief will also be mine to grant—if you earn it. Either way, it’ll make the rest of the trial harder. ”
She blinks at me, flicking her gaze between my face and the pills.
“Which one is which?”
A slow grin spreads across my mouth. “Fate decides. Pick one, and you’ll get your reward.”
I glance at my Rolex, watch the second hand tick.
When I look back, she already has the red pill in her fingers.
The trust in that choice twists in my chest.
If she had even the slightest inkling I knew the truth, she’d be resisting, pressing, panicking.
But she’s not.
Her body language says something else entirely—that she trusts me.
“Do I get to ask you a question once I take it?” she asks.
I clench my fists.
“Yes.”
She smiles, looking down at the pill between her fingers.
“Happy with your choice?”
She shrugs, pops the pill and swallows.
“Open,” I order.
She parts her lips and moves her tongue to show me.
I push back from the table and head for the door.
“Finn!” Her voice cuts sharper now.
I smile with my hand on the handle. “Yes, love?”
Another slip. Calling her love.
“W-what if it’s the poison? You need to monitor me.”
Finally—real panic.
“I’ll be back.” My voice is casual, dismissive.
Then I walk out, letting the silence close in around her.
Part of this trial is going to be about letting her think. Assessing from afar her reactions to see if we’re going in the right direction.
I want the truth. Not a half-truth. Not bullshit.
I need to know if any of this was real. Or if it’s all part of a bigger scheme.
I know The Preacher is out to get me.
But the question is, whose side is my wife on?
It’s clear she framed me, and my first guess is them. There is no way Stephanie tampered with the CCTV. There is no way she’d risk her career for this.
There is someone above her pulling the strings.
That I can find out later. But, this trial is more about her. Was it fucking real, what she felt for me?
That’s all I need to know.