Page 172 of Theirs to Possess: The Marriage Claim

A more rational side of my brain had insisted I turn offmy phone. But I couldn’t. So every time I managed to drift off to sleep, a notification woke me again.

“I saw an article inScandalicious.”

“Oh, God.” I squeeze my eyes shut.

“There was an incident after you left the coffee shop? And you didn’t tell me?”

In the grand scheme of everything I’ve learned, that just seems to be a tiny blip.

“Listen, Isla…” She leans forward. “When I saw you at the coffee shop, you were on cloud nine. What happened? Is it about the article? Talk to me.”

Even though I don’t want to relive the whole thing, there’s no way she’ll leave until I do.

I drag my hair back, and she goes to the kitchen again, returning with two bottles of water.

When I don’t move, she twists the cap off one and puts it on the coffee table in front of me. “You need to hydrate.”

Even though she’s right, I don’t take her suggestion. Instead, slowly, and slightly out of order, I start with the question the reporter tossed at me.

She scowls. “Who is Lena?”

I go on to tell her about the picture I found, the confrontation with my men, and all the horrible details about her death, the mob’s involvement, Brennan going to prison, and the fact Dorian had blackmailed our father.

“Dear God.” Her face goes stark. “This is even worse than I imagined. I’m so sorry I ran.”

I shake my head. “That’s on Dad. Not you. You protected yourself. You had no idea he’d force me to be a stand-in.”

“But—”

“Don’t.”Since I escaped the penthouse, this is the first time I’ve felt something other than pity for myself. At least it gives me a tiny bit of energy. “I mean it. You couldn’t have known.”

And honestly, I wouldn’t have wanted my younger sisterfacing this situation. I’m not equipped to deal with it, but she’s even less so.

“They loved Lena?”

The image of the two of them together is branded into my brain.

My spoon clatters to the floor. Calypso leaps down, batting at the shiny silver, but I barely notice. “Yes.” My voice cracks. Brennan had killed for her. Whereas I’m nothing, an interchangeable bride. A pawn they blackmailed my father into giving them.

I finally take a drink of my water.

“You don’t just care about them. You fell in love.”

Love?

“And that’s why the Lena things hurt so much.”

I truly break then.

I don’t want her to be right.

But she is.

I love them. Both men, equally but differently.

And the knowledge they can never return my feelings destroys me.

“Oh, Isla!” Margaux hurries across to me and draws me into her arms.