Page 2 of Wedlock

She shrugs.

“Could it be she’s being blackmailed or coerced in some way?”

I growl as I squeeze the bridge of my nose and close my eyes for a long second. “You’re clutching at straws.”

‘She needed no external compulsion to destroy me. She sought revenge upon me and used her only weapon, her natural feminine whiles. Bad enough that she had an affair, but with my best friend? How could this even be?’

Even as I think this, I know the answer. I’d done my best to be hateful to my wife from the moment we left The Games. At every turn I’d pushed her towards Jag; hell, I’d even bitten her and might have killed her if not for his intervention.Iwas responsible for her turning to him for comfort, and how could he do otherwise when every time I should have faced my responsibilities, faced her, I sent him?

And had I been faithful to her? No.

She’d been shocked to learn I still kept my mistresses, kept Sophie. And then for her to learn I planned to kill her and the baby and marry Sophie, what must have gone through her mind knowing this? I hadn’t had the opportunity to disabuse her of this before she’d run away.

All along she must have been thinking of ways to get her retribution.

And she had.

She knew how to punish me. She knew me well enough to know an affair with Jag would hurt me more than anyone else she could have chosen. Her revenge is complete, and I deserve no less from her.

‘But he, he of all people, entrusted like no other. HE had no excuse for his betrayal.Ishouldhavekilledhimonthespot,and I mighthavetoo,hadMother not snapped and Angelina not fallen. Had I not felt compelled to catch her, save her, as I had since the very first night I’d met her when her heel became stuck in that fucking paving stone. And even now, angrier than I’ve ever been in my life, I can’t do what needs to be done and destroy her.’

“You said it yourself, Mother,” I answer her in a clipped tone, wanting an end to this discussion. “The affair is undisputed. Whether you want to admit it or not, Jag is the father of that infant.”

‘She said she never loved me.’

“Falcon,” Mother sighs. “I know you’re hurt, but I’m telling you that you only need to look at the boy’s features to see he’s yours. It’s unmistakable. He has your hair, your jaw, your ears. The only scrap of Angelina is in the eyes. There’s no trace of Jaguar’s lineage, and his line is equally as strong as ours. The features don’t lie — and don’t forget, I’ve known the Viscount and his siblings since they were babes in arms.”

“It doesn’t matter one way or the other,” I snap.

“Doesn’tmatter?”Hervoicerisesinindignation.“Itmostcertainlydoesmatter. You needed an heir to secure your title, and now you have one.”

“For all intents and purposes that will suffice for the Queen,” I nod. “You can play happy grandmother with her at court to that end, but you should know that this child willnotbe my heir.”

“Falcon,” she whispers, “you can’t be considering….”

“In case you haven’t noticed, Mother, all bets are off,” I snarl. “I’m sick to death of this conversation. I had my plan set and I allowed myself to be diverted from it with all this bullshit talk of love. I knew better. Iknowbetter. My title will not be secure until I follow common sense and do what I know to be right, as my forefathers did before me.”

“But you won’t harm the baby…”

“No, Mother, I won’t harm the child. I’m not yet my father,” I give her a pointed glare. “The Queen will, no doubt, given her spy network, already know that my wife has returned with a child in tow. I’m stuck with them both for the time being. As you well know, I can’t afford any more shit with the royal family, and Queen Cunt has been pushing me to make a show of ‘happy families’ with Angelina for the media ever since The Games.”

Mother relaxes slightly, and I shake my headat her.

“This doesn’t mean you should get attached to the child you covet so badly. Like I said, play happy grandmother, but you and I both know he’s Jag’s and into Jag’s care he’ll be entrusted as soon as he’s weaned. My plans will be put, once again, into motion, and mynewwife will work hard to assuage any displeasure the Queen might feel over Angelina’s fate.”

‘Just what that is, I don’t know yet. But I know it’s not with me.’

“Angie will pay for what she’s done,” Mother says, her voice firm. “But the doctor says she’s still bleeding excessively. He’s given her a sleeping injection and antibiotics. The last thing we need is for a haemorrhage or infection — need I remind you that by law she has to breastfeed for three years?”

“I’m aware of that,” I snap. “I’m not blind or deaf to the lessons of lore, law, and tradition that you drilled into us since birth, Mother. Would that I had been. But if you expect me tolive under the same roof as the woman who betrayed me and destroyed my friendship with my oldest comrade, one I calledbrother, then you are sadly mistaken.”

I don’t add, and a woman who has thrust a silver dagger deep into my soul and twisted it non-stop ever since I’d met her.What’s the point? That is all my doing. I should never have listened to my mother and her foolish romantic drivel. I’ll recover from this, from it all. But not here.

I turn for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Away.”