“I’m not leaving?—”
Cian cuts me off. “How long has this been going on?” His voice sounds hollow.
“A few months now,” Devlin answers.
“No! That’s not true. He’s lying, Cian. This is all alie.” My voice breaks on that last word. I need my husband to believe me, to see through whatever Devlin’s trying to do to us.
But with each passing second the fissure between my husband and I grows wider, deeper. I can feel it in my soul.
“You’re such a good actress,” Devlin murmurs. “I guess you’d have to be to string Cian along for so long. Though was it really that hard to do? I mean, you’re gorgeous. He must know that he doesn’t deserve you. Just look at him and those nasty scars.” He sneers. “You deserve someone easy on the eyes.”
Cian’s expression shifts from unreadable to rage in a millisecond. He trains his gun on us. My stomach drops. Fear curls around my ribcage.
“Cian.Amore mio, you have to believe me,” I beg.
The rage vanishes, replaced with something that breaks my heart. Defeat. Loss. He harshly shakes his head, as if trying to clear it, then takes a step toward us.
“Believe me,” I plead. “This is a trick. You know it is.”
Devlin pulls me flush against him. “Do you know how many times I’ve fucked her on this desk, Cian?”
“He’s lying!” I cry. “Don’t listen to him.”
Devlin chuckles. “Are you really going to believe her after all the lies she’s told you? I know about her trading places with her twin sister. She told me all about it.”
I’ve never told him, or anyone at work, about that, so how does he know? How does he have that information?
He continues, “She’s been lying to you since day one and she never stopped.”
“Cian, don’t listen to him,” I beg again. He has to believe me. Why is he just standing there? “Please, put the gun down. Get me out of here. I want to go home.”
His gaze dances back and forth between me and Devlin. He seems torn. He doesn’t know who to believe, and that’s crushing my soul into tiny shards. After everything we’ve been through, I thought he completely trusted me.
But Devlin somehow knows his weak points. He’s opening up old wounds. Playing on my husband’s fears. Twisting everything around in his mind.
How is this happening? Who the fuck is this snake and why is he trying to destroy my marriage?
CHAPTER 53
Cian
“Cian,please,” Ravenna begs. “Trust me.” Her sultry voice grates against my raw nerves. I want to believe her, to trust that she’s telling me the truth. I know Devlin’s a piece of shit. So why don’t I shoot him and take her home where she belongs?
Because this is exactly the scenario of how I found out about Fiona and Shawn. They were at his office, in front of his desk. I walked in on them kissing. Fiona immediately denied it all, even pretended to fight against my brother. They threw all kinds of accusations at each other.
She said she’d never leave me, that she loved me. While Shawn insisted they’d been at it for months and she belonged to him.
He even called hermo stór.
I saw the triumph in his eyes that night. He’d taken what was mine. After all those years of being envious of me, he finally had his revenge. He’d taken what I thought was most precious to me. He’d won.
Fiona begged and pleaded for me to believe her. She told me my brother was the villain. That he held her against her will.
I had to choose a side. Either I trusted her or believed him. Suspecting how much my brother hated me, I only had one choice.
Like an idiot, I was taken in by her lies. As soon as I rescued her from my brother, she turned on me. Together, they overpowered me and knocked me out. It had been a perfectly orchestrated trap.
I woke up tied to a chair with a hot poker searing my bare chest. My own screams echoed in the torture room.
