But he was already shaking his head. “Cunning of you, Seraphina,” he drawled. “But I shall nae do such a thing, tempting as it is. Someday down the road, after I have gotten on with my life and married again, you might get it in you to pop your head out of the ground like a badger out of its sett, and then where shall I be? A bigamist. And besides the fact that I shall nae want to go into another marriage with such a horrible secret, I’ll nae have the stain of bigamy on me—or the legal repercussions.”
Married again.Why did those words tear through her like a bullet? She did not want this man. Not after all he had done to her, how he had betrayed her. What did she care if he remarried?
Yet no matter how much she willed herself to look past it, she could not. Bitterness filled her, that he should move on so completely from what they’d had. And not just the love she’d believed they’d shared, but the friendship as well. For so many summers she had thought they’d had a specialbond, one that had grown and blossomed into something beautiful. Until, in the matter of a moment, he’d allowed his greed to win out over any affection he might have felt for her. No, that was the biggest betrayal of all, the fact that he’d turned his back on something she had believed to be so very precious between them, the friendship they had shared for so long.
It was silly, really. It had been thirteen years since then. What did she think he had been about all this time? Of course he would have moved on. And in that moment she wanted nothing more than to move on from him as well—something she had thought she had done but obviously hadn’t, if her reaction was anything to go by. A divorce would free her from him completely. It was ideal, really.
Ideal, that is, if she did not have to rise from the dead to do it.
“While I would love nothing more than to be rid of you legally and completely,” she replied, “I would rather remain deceased in the eyes of the world, thank you very much. You can be assured your secret shall remain safe with me. You can get on with your life, and I can get on with mine.”
He scoffed. “You will forgive me if I don’t give any value to your word.”
“Myword?” Once more anger sizzled through her, burning away all her grief and fear.
But he seemed not to have heard her. Or, rather, he was choosing to ignore her, which seemed much more of an insult.
“I willnae leave Synne until you have agreed to help me finalize this divorce,” he stated emphatically, crossing his massive arms over his chest. And then he smiled, a deliberate stretching of lips over teeth that had her equallyaggravated and wary. “Besides, seeing as we’re married, your business and all that you own essentially belongs to me.”
She froze. “No,” she blurted, an automatic response, even as her mind knew there was no sense in protesting. It was one of the many, many injustices of society, the fact that a married woman owned nothing of her own, that everything went to her husband.
His cold smile widened, the recognition of just how effectively he’d trapped her plain as day in his eyes. “I’m afraid so. And I can see you’re aware of it as well.” He paused, his eyes narrowing in a kind of victory. “However, if we were to divorce…”
He shrugged, as if it was of no consequence. When in reality it meant everything. Everything she had worked for, spilled blood for, sacrificed for, all to give her sisters security and a good life.
And damn it, he was right. As her husband he could take it all away.
“Fine,” she spat. “I will sign what I have to, whatever paper is needed, to declare I am in fact alive. You can take it back to Scotland, and see our divorce is finalized, and we may finally wash our hands of one another for good. In exchange, I insist that you keep the fact that I am alive and well as quiet as possible. I have made a good life for my sisters here on the Isle; I do not want that destroyed.”
“Oh, you can be assured I will keep your existence quiet,” he drawled, even as a triumphant gleam entered his eyes. “I nae more wish for our union to be made public than you do; you’re nae the only one to have made a life for themselves. However,” he continued, his voice rising as she nodded and made to turn away, needing to get away fromhim immediately, now that they had come to their agreement, “I willnae be content with a mere piece of paper from you. After all the trouble I’ve gone to in order to find you, I willnae be taking any chances. You shall come back to Scotland with me, to declare before the Court of Sessions yourself that you are alive and well and that you agree to this divorce.”
She gaped up at him. “You cannot be serious.”
“Oh, I assure you, my lovely wife, I most certainly am.”
“But… I cannot do that! I have a life here, my sisters, my business. I cannot possibly drop everything and traipse off to Scotland with you.”
“You can, and you shall.”
The maddening, stubborn, hateful man.Scowling, she jutted out her chin and glared up at him. “And if I don’t agree to return to Scotland with you?”
His eyes narrowed. “Then I’m certain I could find the time to remain on Synne and take over the family business.”
Rage ripped through her. “That is blackmail,” she gasped.
He shrugged. “Blackmail adjacent, at the most.”
She let loose a frustrated growl deep in her throat. “You are despicable.”
To her frustration, he grinned. “Undoubtedly.” His expression shifted, a hard gleam entering his eyes. “Do you agree to return to Scotland with me, Seraphina?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nae.”
If thoughts had been daggers shooting from her eyeballs, she rather thought she would have killed him on the spot. Unfortunately, however, they were not, and so she was left to deal with the man.
“Very well,” she bit out, her mind already spinning. “But it will take me time to prepare for the journey. I have a business to run and cannot be expected to drop everything at a moment’s notice.”
