Sophie. Sophie had been hiding this from him, something that meant everything to him. She wouldn’t, couldn’t keep that secret from him. It was another of D’Angelo’s games.
“You’re lying.”
D’Angelo laughed. “You don’t have to trust me, Emery. I can prove it to you. She wants the story of a lifetime and she kept the news of Fenn being alive to herself because she wants the glory of the story. She got your hacker to play along, for a price of course…They’re too close, wouldn’t you say? Perhaps they were lovers before you met her. She knew so easily where to find you at the club. I bet she and Cody have been planning this for months.”
Emery gripped the phone so hard the plastic cracked.
“Try not to look so surprised, Emery.”
Surprised? How the hell did Antonio…Emery spun around, eyes searching the crowd. He had to be here, watching him. There were too many people and the lighting was too dim for him to get a clear view.
“She was happy to fuck you for the story, for the money, but now she’s spreading her favors out. Just like a woman.”
Lies. Had it all been nothing but insidious lies?
“I’m hanging up,” he growled.
“I’m sending you a video file. I’d suggest you watch it.”
The phone went dead.
A second later the e-mail icon popped up. He tapped the e-mail and the file started to upload. He pressed play and watched.
It was a video taken from when Cody was in the hospital. D’Angelo must have planted a small button-hole camera in the room somehow. The thought filled him with cold dread. The man had been in Cody’s room, close enough to finish off his friend. The video showed Cody and Sophie alone in the room, talking. He couldn’t read their lips, but the body language was clear, furtive glances, shifty eyes, and then Cody slipped something small—looked like a pocket knife—into Sophie’s hand. She hastily tucked it into her pocket as Emery entered the hospital room.
There was no way to be sure what Cody and Sophie had talked about, but the visual evidence was damning.
The blood in his veins was cold as ice as he replayed the video two more times. Emery felt as though someone had punched a fist in his chest and had wrapped cruel fingers around his heart, squeezing painfully. She had betrayed him. He’d given her his worst memories, told her the darkest secret in his soul, and she was using it against him and working with his friend—a young man he’d rescued and treated like a younger brother. The joy and elation of knowing Fenn might still be alive was soured by the manner in which he’d learned the truth…He couldn’t trust her. He dropped the phone to the floor and smashed it beneath his boot. If Sophie wanted to play games, he would play.
Cold rage suffused him with an incredible sense of self-control. He walked across the ballroom floor, his heart turning to stone with every step. He reached Sophie and his father.
“May I cut in?” His frozen smile gave his father pause. His father glanced at Sophie, one brow raised in question.
“It’s all right, Mr. Lockwood,” Sophie assured him. His father stepped back and Emery slid into his place without missing a step. He captured her hand in his, and placed his other hand on her lower back, pulling her tight into his body. Sophie’s eyes lit with sudden sensual hunger, a look he recognized instantly. Emotions whipped through him sharply. He’d never see that look again after tonight and it was tainted by knowing Sophie had secret motives with regard to him. His sadness was drowned in a rush of fury and yet he still wanted to sink into her body and find heaven. It was a cruel joke that the one woman he made love to, which felt like coming home, was the one woman that had betrayed him.
“Emery?” Such a sweet, innocent sounding voice. Damn, she was a hell of an actress.
He tightened his grip on her lower back as he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
“Care to go somewhere private?”
“Why?” she whispered back.
He nipped her ear and pressed his erection against her belly. Sophie’s lips parted on a soft, shivery sigh.
“You lead, I’ll follow,” she promised, eyes half closed as she linked her arm in his. A blush lit her cheeks as he led her from the dance floor. He had a perfect place in mind for what he needed to do. One last time, he’d pretend she was the woman he’d given his world to. One more night, then he’d cast her out and move on.
***
Sophie had that awful sense of doom. It filled her to the brim like smoke curling up from a deadly spell from a witch’s cauldron. Yet Emery was distracting her with his endless passion. She couldn’t refuse him, never wanted to refuse him. He’d made her feel more alive, more herself, than she’d ever been in her entire life. Emery pulled her into a room just off the ballroom. There was a large mahogany desk and a couple of leather armchairs. Behind the desk floor-to-ceiling shelves were lined with hundreds of books bearing gilded spines.
The click of the lock in the door had her spinning around. He leaned back against the door, arms crossed. He wasn’t smiling, not with his eyes, even though his lips curved upward.
“Sit on the edge of the desk, spread your legs wide for me.” The command was smooth and erotic but the stark flash of violent pain in his eyes confused her.
“Do it, or I’ll redden that ass of yours with my hand,” he warned.
Sophie lit up inside with a powerful stab of arousal and backed up to the desk. She stood on tiptoe and eased back on the desk, raising her eyes to his as she spread her legs. His gaze dropped and she knew he was remembering that she wore nothing underneath her dress.
