“Did you lose your fiancé?” he asked.
“The perimeter alarm went off for the second time. He and Dev are checking it out.”
A quiet moment passed before he said, “And you came to check on me.”
“I’m worried about you. And Gaby. I consider you both my friends.”
“There’s no cause to worry about me.”
She angled toward him, hip against the railing. “I saw you two out by the pool. Together, you burned with a fire even the waterfall couldn’t put out.”
His jaw flexed. “It was good until it wasn’t.” His gaze followed the dark current swirling below. “Lies tend to end that way.”
Emily didn’t look away. “You can’t keep hiding behind your charm and dry sense of humor, Rhys.”
He huffed softly. “It’s worked well enough so far.”
“Late one night, when you were guarding me and I couldn’t sleep,” she said carefully, “you told me you wanted something real.”
The word sank into him like a blade.
London flared behind his eyes—her voice, precise and coldly clinical as she dismantled him from the inside out with her brutal truth.
You fascinated me. I never meant for you to form an attachment, let alone fall in love. I didn’t. I don’t. For that, I’m sorry.
Except, she hadn’t been sorry. Not when her case study came out. When peers praised her insight. It was borderline ethical even though the names had been changed to protect the subject’s identity. His identity.
Even now, the humiliation burned in his bones. To have been studied without his knowledge. Used. He swore never again, and yet…
He stared out across the water, the memory tightening like a band around his ribs.
“Not anymore,” he replied, despite the lengthy pause.
Emily’s voice softened. “You’re judging her too harshly.”
He looked at her finally. “Am I?”
She held his gaze without flinching. “Put your profiler glasses on and really see Gaby. Not the lie. Not the cover. The caring, loyal woman who is so desperate to save her sister, she walked into not only our club but that den of vipers, alone.”
He went rigid, wanting to believe, but his profiler glasses had been clouded before.
“She’s strong,” Emily continued. “Brave. Stubborn as hell. A fighter through and through. And she’s also in love with you.”
His words came low and rough. “Did she tell you that?”
“No, but I can tell.”
He shook his head. “You left out her best trait. She’s an excellent actress. She fooled me—a dom for nearly twenty years—and a trained psychologist. Trust doesn’t survive lies.”
“I don’t think that part was a lie. I’m not very experienced, but I could tell. So could Alec.Gaby didn’t submit to anyone until you,” Emily pointed out.
Her words struck him harder than any accusation.
In the silence that stretched between them, music thrummed like a distant pulse. Laughter wafted down the hill.
Emily wasn’t done. Her voice dropped to just above a whisper. “Maybe ask yourself why that is.”
Having planted a seed of doubt, she left him.
