Page 18

I knew something was off the moment I entered my kitchen. There was a feminine smell that wasn’t mine.

I set my grocery bag on the counter and froze when I heard a sound.

I assumed it was Priest. sixteen days had passed since I'd flown back by myself and I hadn't heard from him.

But when I went back into the living room, sitting on the edge of my couch like she’d been waiting all afternoon was Lilith.

Her legs crossed, hands folded, wearing cream slacks and a top that probably cost more than my rent.

Her sunglasses rested on the table, but she hadn’t taken off her jacket. Like she didn’t plan to stay long.

I wondered where the fuck she had been when I came in. I looked back toward my bedroom.

Her smile was thin.

I didn’t move. “You broke into my house?”

“I walked in. I took Priest’s key,” she said, adjusting a gold ring on her finger. “Let’s not exaggerate.”

I leaned against the wall.

“What do you want?”

She looked around slowly, nose wrinkling as she scanned my place like it personally offended her.

“So this is it. The great escape. I expected something more... He brought me a mansion and you this.”She was trying to be insulting and doing a good job at it.

“You’re not welcome here. Anything you have to say, you should say to your husband. I haven’t talked to him in weeks.”

She stood, walked to the shelf by my TV, ran her fingers along the edge of a picture frame.

“I know you’ve been fucking my husband.”

I didn’t flinch.

She kept going. “I know where your sister is, too.”

My chest tightened. I didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.

“She’s still in that sweet little rehab facility in Ocala, isn’t she? The one with the garden out back? The one my husband paid for.”

She turned and looked me dead in the face.

“I also know everyone your sister owes money to. I’ve got names. And numbers.”

“What does this information mean?” My heart was beating a mile a minute. I knew exactly what it meant—but I wanted her to confirm it.

We stared at each other.

“I’m not with Priest anymore,” I said. “We’re done. Threatening me is pointless. I don’t want him.”

She tilted her head. “But he wants you.”

“It was only sex. It’s over. You read too much into our relationship.” I wanted her to understand that I was done.

“Sebastian misses you, you know.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not my problem.”

“It is now.” She turned. “You’re going to go back to him.”

I laughed, short and dry. “I don’t like your brother. You don’t even like your brother.” Priest had told me that part.

“I don’t,” she said. “He’s selfish. Weak. Emotional.”

“So why in the hell would I be with him again?”

“Because he wants you. And Priest won’t—once he finds out you’re together, he might even kill the both of you.”

I stared at her, disgust curling in my gut.

“Why not just let me leave your husband alone, and both of you leave me alone to deal with your marriage falling apart?”

Lilith stepped closer.

“I’d rather not deal with the embarrassment of some nurse fucking her way into our world like she belongs there.”

There it was. She saw me as beneath them.

It wasn't a scream. Not a slap. But it kind of hurt.

She blinked slowly.

“I know Priest probably told you I forced him to marry me, that he doesn’t love me. But he doesn’t need to. He’s mine either way.”

She brushed past me, walked into the hallway like she’d lived there for years.

I followed her. She stopped at my bedroom door.

“I wonder how many times he’s touched you in that bed. Or if he took you against the wall like he used to do with me—before the pain got too bad.”

I knew she was lying. Priest didn't lie on his dick. He said he didn't fuck her. I believed it.

My mouth got the better of me.

“He claimed it was 136 times the last time he mentioned a number, so maybe add another 40 to that.”

Her hand connected with my cheek.

My head snapped to the side, her hand print on my face stinging, the sound ringing in my ears louder than it should’ve.

I staggered back a step, more from shock than the from impact.

Heat rushed to my face. My hand shot up, fingers curling into a fist before I even realized what I was doing. I stopped myself short of hitting her.

She didn’t move. She just looked at me—calm, unbothered,

She knew If I hit her back, I’d be the one who ended up hurt. Or dead. And I knew it too. Her bodyguard were probably waiting for her close by.

I lowered my arm. Forced my jaw to unclench. Let the anger sit in my throat like a swallowed blade.

Her smile was slow but sharp.

“Good decision,” she murmured. “You’re smarter than you look.”

She turned her back on me again, like I was no threat at all, and walked casually to the living room. Picked up her sunglasses. Slipped them on.

“Call Sebastian,” she said, voice low but firm. “Tell him you’re ready to try again. Say you’ve thought about it and you miss him. Make it convincing.”

I didn’t move.

She glanced over her shoulder, the glint of her ring catching the light.

“Or I start calling some of those people your sister owes money to. And don’t call Priest, he can’t save you.”

My hands were shaking so bad when she closed my front door.