“Lake.” He kneels in front of me, forearms resting on his jean-clad thighs. “Little darling.”
“Don’t call me that.” I whimper, tears stinging my eyes. “It’s all been a lie,” I say, more to myself than anyone else. “Why?”
“Listen to me, Lake,” he says calmly.
My eyes are on his hands in front of me as they rest on his thighs. It’s not the blood that covers them, but his silver wedding band that makes me want to vomit some more.
“Your sister—”
“You knew?” I can’t help but ask. Fresh tears sting my eyes, and it blurs my vision. I thought he killed her, and now I find out he knew she was never truly dead. Why lie to me? Or why would he let me think he killed her when he knew she was still alive? I don’t understand. It doesn’t matter, he handed her over to the Spade brothers. They will torture her for whatever information they think she has about Ashtyn. I’ll never see her again. She was right in front of me, and now she’s gone. “You knew all this time that she was alive?”
“No. I suspected but never knew for sure,” he answers and reaches out to me.
I pull away, but he grips my arm and yanks me to my feet. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? Any possibility of her being alive would have been better than knowing she was dead.”
He frowns as if that thought never crossed his mind.
“Is that why you married me?” I demand, pulling myself free of his grip.
“What?” he barks out, getting equally angry.
“Because you wanted to make her jealous?” I’ve been trying to figure out why he married me. This has to be the reason, right? So it would get back to her, and she’d come running to him? That’s why he kept her from me.
He glares at me, jaw sharpening. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why did you marry me?” I shove his chest. “It was because of her, wasn’t it?” I’m shouting, my body vibrating. I knew there was a reason, and she must have been it.
He reaches into his pocket and removes a cell phone, shoving it into my hand. “What … whose is this?” I ask, sniffing.
“Look at the messages,” he commands.
My shaking fingers open the first one, and I gasp when I see it’s a picture of me. I’m at the house of Lords party, sitting at the table with Tyson, Ryat, and Blakely. Sin and Ellington had gotten up to go greet a friend of theirs. “I don’t understand,” I whisper.
“This is Whitney’s cell phone,” he tells me.
“No.”
“Fuck, Lake.” He yanks it from my hands. “How much proof do you need?” He shows me another picture of me working at Blackout. “She sent the pictures to your phone.”
“She couldn’t have,” I argue even though I see one of the same pictures I had seen on my phone. “My father gave me…” I trail off, my watery eyes meeting his, and his face softens.
Cupping my cheek, he whispers, “I’m sorry, little darling. I wish it wasn’t true.”
“My father knew.” My voice cracks.
“I went through her phone.” He speaks softly. “The day of our wedding, Luke contacted her, informing her that I was marrying you. She was here within a matter of days.”
I wrap my arms around my shaking body.
“I tried, Lake. I tried to get tabs on her. To get ahead of it, but they were very quiet. I had men on Luke twenty-four seven, tracking him, and they never made contact with one another.”
“You said they’re married.” I frown. “How could he have married me if he was already married to her? I don’t understand.”
SIXTY-FIVE
TYSON
I’m sitting in my room at the house of Lords when my cell rings. It’s a blocked number. Not unusual. The Lords always hide their identity. “This is Tyson,” I answer.
