Page 141 of Lady and the Hitman

I’d always known Ronan was dangerous. It was part of the appeal. The unshakable calm. The sharp edges. The unspoken violence in his eyes. But I hadn’t expected this—this soft, secret past with another woman he’d also called Lady.

I wasn’t the first.

Not even close.

And that realization did something to me I hadn’t expected.

It broke something open.

Because what if I was just the next? What if I wasjust another fantasy in a long line of them? What if all that care—those reverent hands, those whispered words—what if it wasn’t real?

What if it was just the script?

My eyes burned.

I stood abruptly, pacing the room, needing to do something with the energy crawling under my skin. I pressed my fingers to my temples, then dragged them down my cheeks.

This wasn’t supposed to matter. I told myself I’d gone into this eyes open. That I knew the rules. But the truth was, I didn’t. Not really.

Because I’d fallen for him.

Hard.

And maybe I hadn’t wanted to know what came before me because I’d been afraid it would look like this.

So familiar.

So special.

So not special at all.

I thought about the woman crying in that last video. About the hollow ache in her voice. The way she held herself like she’d been destroyed by love. Or by the loss of it.

Had he hurt her?

Had he walked away?

Had she fallen in love with a man who was never hers to keep?

Was she dead?

A part of me wanted to call him. To scream. To demand answers.

But the deeper part—the more terrified part—was scared to hear them.

Because what if this was who he was? A man who gave women everything for a season. Until he didn’t.Until he vanished, or left them unraveling on a cold floor.

I pressed my palms to my eyes and breathed.

Deep. Slow. Controlled.

But I didn’t stop there.

I should have.

God, I should’ve shut the laptop and walked away. But something in me—some raw, splintered piece of pride or masochism or heartbreak—needed more. Needed proof that this wasn’t a one-time fluke. That I wasn’t imagining a pattern that didn’t exist.

So I clicked the folder beneath it.