Page 96 of The Devil's Deceit

“You’re bluffing. Christian’s far too well protected for you to get close to him.”

“It was easy,” he bites out. “As easy as nicking a wallet from a drunk.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Fine.” There’s a pause, and my phone dings with an incoming text. I open the message and gasp. Christian is slumped in a chair, his head hanging forward, clearly unconscious.

I waver, my head spinning. “Let him go.”

“He’s going nowhere until I’ve beaten the truth out of him. Maybe not even then. I’ll have to see how generous I’m feeling at the time.”

“Don’t you dare hurt him.” My voice is barely audible and loaded with menace. Blood rushes through my ears, roaring, uncontrolled.

“And there it is. I see where your loyalties lie, Grace. Your parents would be ashamed of you.Ashamed. Your dad always said you were weak.”

I swallow, hard, his words slicing through me as he intends them to. “My father would never say that.”

“You’ll never know for sure, will you? Yourhusbandmade sure of that when he killed them.”

Painful breaths saw in and out of my chest. Somehow, I have to get through to him. I can’t lose Christian. Not like this. Not untilI’vehad a chance to talk to him and find out the truth. To hear from his lips what happened that night, not second-hand from an unreliable narrator.

“Listen to me. If you hurt him, his familywillfind you, and theywillkill you. It’s not too late. Let Christian go. I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him grief made you do this.”

“It is too late. Too late for me, too late for him, and toolate for you, Grace. You think I’m the only one in the line of fire?”

No, I don’t think that. I’m all too aware of how much Christian will hate me when I tell him who I am and what I’ve done. I knew the risks coming into this. Now it’s time for me to face the consequences of my actions.

“Let him go, Daniel.” I purposely drop the uncle. He’s no longer my family. I only hope I can save Arron from the poison he’s been drip fed for weeks while I’ve been out of the picture. “Please. For all our sakes.”

“Gotta go, Grace. Loverboy is waking up.”

The line goes dead.

An involuntary moan spills out of me. My phone slips from my clammy hands, landing with a dull thud on the floor. What do I do? WhatcanI do? I’ve no idea where he’s holding Christian. I don’t even know where to start. My feet move, carrying me to the hallway, but when I get there, I stop. There’s no use in telling Christian’s family what’s happened. I have no information to pass on. Nothing useful, other than I’m a charlatan who has put Christian’s life in danger. If I’d known it would come to this, Ineverwould have agreed to go along with Daniel’s plan.

Wouldn’t you?a quiet voice whispers in my ear.

It’s true, my desire for vengeance saw me suffer through two painful surgeries and endless study of a background Arron faked for me. But that was before.

Before I knew him.

Before I questioned the truth I’d once been so certain of.

Before I fell in love.

Hurrying over to my phone, I snatch it off the floor and call Arron. If anyone knows where Daniel will have taken Christian, it’s my brother. It’s too late to worry if my phoneis tapped. Daniel blew my cover the moment he called me, then sent that picture. And if the De Vils are monitoring my activity, I expect I’ll find out soon enough.

Voicemail.

I hang up and redial.

Voicemail again.

Shit.

I call Juliet. She answers on the third ring. “Hey, babe.”

“Do you know where Arron is?”