Cash squeezed my waist a little, and I sucked in a breath before I silently released it. “No,” I said, my voice firm. “He’s not.” I took another deep breath. “I was hoping you would’ve come earlier. I needed to talk to you about this.” I slid my hand over Cash’s, and Scott’s eyes narrowed. Then he lowered the gun and holstered it. “I’m sorry, Scott. I really am. You’ll never know how much. But I can’t do this—us. I met Cash and— ”
I’d been waiting for Scott to interrupt me, to call me out on the bullshit, but he didn’t. He believed me. He actually believed me. Thisfarce,as Cash had called it. Maybe Cash was right. Scott couldn’t tell the difference between the actress and the real me.
“And you fell in love with the bastard!” Scott roared and I flinched a little in Cash’s embrace. Scott didn’t notice it—his eyes never left Cash’s—but it was enough that Cash felt it. He held me a little tighter.
“I—” I was about to saywhat?But then maybe he’d suspect something was up. But how could he not see that I wasacting?That the only thing I felt for this man holding me was a mixture of disdain and curiosity?
Okay, and lust. I couldn’t be blamed, though. The man was frigging good-looking with a healthy dose of virility. I gave myself a pass on the attraction, because my heart worked and the blood in my veins ran hot.
“Fuck, Keely!” Scott shouted, finally looking at me. “Do you have any idea who’s touching you right now? Who he is?”
“The marauder.”
The air seemed to still, and the only thing that seemed to move was the frantic heaving motion of Scott’s chest. “So you know. You know what kind of animal has his hands on you.” When Scott looked down at Cash’s hand, he noticed mine, the light from the house making the emerald glimmer in the night.
I dug in my back pocket, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, and pulled out the ring Scott had given me. I stepped out of Cash’s hold, then took a step forward, hoping Scott could see the remorse in my eyes. It hurt me to end it this way.
This was only the beginning, though—for the three of us. Cash had sounded the battle cry, and Scott answered it.
“Here.” I took his hand and slipped the ring inside, trying to steady my own hand. It trembled. “You deserve to be happy,” I whispered. “Another woman, someone different, deserves to wear that ring.”
Scott ripped his hand from mine like I was a leper, a disgusted look on his face, before he made a fist with the hand holding the ring. “You fell in love with a savage. A fucking animal that kills for money. You fell in love with my worst enemy.And he played you like the devil plays the weak. I never took you for weak, but I guess I was wrong. About a lot of things.”
He looked at Cash. “We’re not done, Kelly. You stole my heart—now I’m going to steal your soul—Hell’s Kitchen. It never belonged to your father. It’ll never belong to you, as long as I’m alive to stop it.”
Any reasonable man would’ve taken one look at Scott’s face and cancelled the debt owed, but one look at Cashel Kelly and I knew it would never be enough. He would never be satisfied until Scott Stone cried tears of blood. I knew it was the same for Scott Stone.
It didn’t hit me until that moment how insanely dangerous this situation was. Both men’s hate and anger were like two open graves. The game was a race to see who was going to fall into one first at the other’s hand.
“Kee.”
It took a moment for me to realize that Harrison was talking to me. I was out of sorts lately.
Cash turned us around, and my entire family stood facing us.
“You have something to tell your Mam and Da?” My mother glanced down at my hand before she met my eyes and quirked a severe eyebrow up.
“We’re getting married,” Cash said.
A few seconds later, Scott’s door slammed. Tires screeched as he tore away from the curb, leaving behind the scent of burning rubber and smoke.
And that... sealed everything.
12
Keely
My understudy hated me. All throughout practice she made snide little remarks underneath her breath.She only got this part because of her boyfriend— or whoever he is to her. She can’t even sing. She can’t even act.
Although I knew she was being a bitch because her uncle couldn’t secure this role for her, her last comment was the truth. Well, for that particular day.
I couldn’t focus enough to get inside of my character’s head. My attention was on the marauder.
It had been three days since we kissed in the kitchen. Three days since he gave me the massive engagement ring on my finger. Even though I should’ve been focusing on Scott, and what I had done to him, all I could think about was my impending wedding and that kiss.
That kiss.
I loathed it.
