Page 143 of Jensen

“Because my fighter fucked your wife,” he says.

My entire body freezes. No, no, what is he doing? There’s no way Jensen agreed to revealing that information.

“What?” Leland breathes.

Brothers looks him dead in the eye. “Jensen Childress fucked your wife. If you had any honor at all, you’d take your fighter’s place.”

I’m sinking. This is the flip side of Brothers Boyd, the one Jensen warned me about. Still, it feels like a punch to the gut. It feels soiled,dirty, laid out in front of Leland like it’s no longer this sweet secret between me and Jensen anymore.

My porcelain teacup heart cracks, dozens of fine threads running through it.

Leland turns slowly, and a shudder moves down my spine. “Della,” he says. “Care to chime in?”

I can’t speak, feet rooted to the spot.

“Come now, Leland,” Brothers taunts. “Solve this like a gentleman. She can’t help what he did.”

I’m so sick, my vision is blurred. Leland walks up the stairs. I see him coming like we’re in a tunnel. Then, his iron grip wraps around my throat.

“Did he fuck you?” he says grimly.

A lie feels stupid at this point. Brothers wasn’t dressing me for sacrifice the night he sent me back to Leland. No, that was just the appetizer. Tonight, I’m laid out with my throat slit.

I see Brothers in the background through my blurry vision. He mouths something, and I think he’s telling me to trust him.

I want to, I do. The comfort of complete trust is a distant concept. I’ve felt it exactly twice in my life. When my father was alive and that day in the swamp with Jensen’s hand on the wheel.

“Della,” Leland snarls, dragging me back.

I twist, trying to get my throat free. He holds tight.

“He did,” I gasp.

Leland pushes me, hard. I hit the ground and roll to my side. Everything is turned upside down, but I hear Brothers’ voice cut through the confusion.

“She didn’t want it,” he says. “Trust me on that.”

Leland is tearing at the seams, trying to keep in control of himself. I’m a puppet on Brothers’ strings, my fate changing every time he speaks. Is that what he did to Jensen too? I don’t have time to think about it, because Leland takes me by the upper arm and drags me to my feet, pulling me to the far corner of the platform. Behind him, I see Brothers surge forward, like he thinks he can intervene, but Leland’s guards cut him off.

“Lelend, please,” I beg. His grip is cutting off circulation. “He didn’t.”

“You just said he did,” he spits. “Tell me.”

He pushes me against the wooden pillar, hand between my breasts. I’m so fucking scared, I can’t stop shaking.

After the way he got me pregnant, Leland scares me more than anyone in this world. If it wasn’t an accident, he assaulted me, and then he made me live with him in his perfect house knowing what he did the whole time.

He made me sleep in the same bed with a predator.

That’s colder than ice.

“Tell you what?” I breathe.

“What did he do to you?” he snaps.

Under his arm, I see Brothers. He’s mouthing those words again.Trust me, Della.

My broken heart starts back up.