I crawl in on my side—closest to the door—and she gets in, cuddling up next to me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her to me as tight as I can, which isn’t much, considering how weak I still am.
Her body begins to shake against mine, and then she sniffs. Lowering my head to hers, I kiss her forehead. “It’s okay, doll face. I’m here.”
She sniffs again, and her arms tighten on me. “Promise me?—”
“I’ll never leave you.” I interrupt her, knowing exactly what she was going to say. “I promise.”
Closing my eyes, I hope that when I open them, she’s still here…with me…in our bed. I hope this isn’t another hallucination.
My heavy eyes open,and I close them immediately at the harsh light. I reach out and feel nothing but blank space.
I open my eyes and sit straight up, flinching at the sharp pain that takes my breath away. “Fuck,” I growl, reaching up to rub the back of my neck.
“Haidyn.” The door to the bathroom opens, and my wife exits, rushing over to me. “Hey, are you okay?” She sits down on the bed next to me.
I reach out, grab her hand, and lie down, pulling her on top of me. Her giggle fills the room. Fuck, I never thought I’d hear that again.
“You need to take it easy,” she says and sits up, straddling my hips.
I look up at her, and she’s smiling down at me. She looks absolutely stunning, even with her black eyes and bruised face. Reaching up, I push her hair from her face. “How do you feel?”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. How do you feel?”
“I’m fine.”
“Lie,” she deadpans. And her face falls as her eyes look me over. “Seriously. How do you feel? Need me to call Devin or Gavin to come check on you? Need some pain pills?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Haidyn.” She huffs. Crossing her arms over her chest she looks away from me, her eyes scanning the room.
Reaching up, I undo them and bring her left hand to my lips, kissing her knuckles. Her eyes drop to her wedding ring. “You tricked me.” Biting her bottom lip, she brings her eyes back to mine.
“You’ll have to be more specific,” I say, knowing exactly what she means. I was hoping she’d forget the video I left her, but of course she didn’t. “That could describe many things.”
She holds up her left hand, arching a brow. “Our marriage. Just how did Adam help force me to marry you?”
I grab her hips and push her onto her back to where I’m kneeling between her legs. I ignore the pain that runs up my sideand grind my teeth, hoping she doesn’t notice. But when that giggle comes from her perfect lips again, it was totally worth it.
She wraps her legs around my waist while I run my hand up and down her smooth thigh. “I had Adam go through your laptop.”
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Well, I didn’t think you needed a Mac. Pretty sure you can afford to buy your own,” she jokes.
I don’t laugh. “While I had Adam looking through it, he found two devices that were connected to it. An Apple watch and a cell phone.”
The smile drops, and her wide eyes search mine.I have her attention.“The very same that you had been contacting me from.” I knew that the Lords had given her a “fake” life. I just never stopped to think how deep that went. “I had him send you a text from an unknown number after your appointment about turning me over to the Lords.”
Her body stiffens under mine, and her breathing picks up, but she remains silent. I wait and let her collect her thoughts, trying to remember how it all went down. “No?—”
“I called you after he sent the text to gauge your mood. I even asked you if you were okay when you seemed flustered.” It’s the only reason I let her leave my house that day. I wanted her to have some alone time while she debated what to do.
Her eyes narrow, and she tries to get up, but I grab her arms, wrapping my hands around her tiny wrists and pin them down by her head. “Haidyn,” she growls, fighting me. “What the fuck?—?”
“I left you alone all day with your thoughts deciding on if you wanted to turn me over to the Lords or not. Then I arrived at your house, and you pretended to be upset about your fake boy toy.” I snort. “I never even had dinner reservations because I knew you wouldn’t want to go. You’d be too worked up.”
“But…but you left me that night after we signed the marriage license. You went to the cathedral for me. The Lords had texted me to be there or else…” She trails off again.
“Also, Adam.” I nod as she puts two and two together.
