“What the fuck are you doing here, Trent?” he repeated when I didn’t hear him the first time. The boom of my heartbeat had taken over my ability to hear.
“I have no fucking clue what I’m doing here,” I finally muttered and walked over to him. I stared down at the man I’d just saved. By killing another man. “What the fuck did I just walk into, Zayne and no bullshit. I want the truth.” I glanced at his white shirt now the color of red wine on one side of his body. “First, I need to get you to a hospital.”
He shook his head. “Go to Rika. She needs you more than me. You’re the perfect man for her.”
I paused, debating whether to haul him to his feet or not. When he shook his head again, I sighed. “As much as I want to agree with you, I can’t. I lied to her. Your plan to pretend you were angry with my arrival at Incognito today was impressive, I don’t think it worked, though. I should’ve told her who I was from the get-go. She hasn’t forgiven me yet.” Even as I uttered the words, I wondered if I’d heard her scream ‘I love you’ before I ran out of Incognito, or if it was just my imagination.
“My plan worked, she bought that I was angry. Her responses told me that and she didn’t get a chance to forgive you. Hell blew over, remember?” His laugh was strained, something between a chuckle and a cough.
“Don’t remind me.” I was still in shock that one of us, if not all three, might’ve been killed today.
“Look, after what we’ve been through, I’m not surprised at her reaction. She loves you, Trent, she just needs time to adjust. Trust me. Your lies were far holier than mine. It’s better this way. She’s rid of the devil before meeting him.”
“What fucking devil? You’re not making any sense.”
He tried to push up. I crouched to his level and helped him to sit up against the wall. “I married her to get revenge.”
“Revenge?” Baffled, I sat down next to him. “I don’t understand.”
“I’m not who you think I am, neither does Rika know for that matter.”
“Why am I not surprised.” My tone dripped sarcasm, but I was impatient to hear his story.
He almost knocked me on my ass when he said, “I was paid to injure her father.”
“What the fuck? A killer? Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I ranted, disbelief tightening my chest.
“I was hired—”
“I got that part, move on to the why and the how or better still by who?”
“Him.” He gestured to Easton’s lifeless body. Somehow the revelation wasn’t as shocking as I expected. In the time I’d known him, my brother-in-law’s concept of family had been severely lacking.
“Shortened version. Easton is not related to Singh. His mother had an affair with Singh. His father kidnapped Rika out of revenge for the affair when Easton was young. Angry with Ashrika for taking his place, he saw an opportunity. He approached Singh and claimed he was the result of Singh’s affair with his mother. Singh never questioned him. You getting all this?” Zayne rasped. I nodded. “When your wife died, he thought he’d get Singh’s money but then Singh learned of Ashrika’s whereabouts just before your wife’s death, through a letter sent by Easton’s mother.”
“Jesus fucking Christ.” I shoved a hand through my hair. “Sounds like a fucking family saga gone fucking weird.”
“It gets worse.” The look on Zayne’s face told me I wouldn’t like what I was about to hear. I cocked a brow. “Singh met with Ashrika. That’s how she learned her real name and he gave her that pendant. The only two things that stayed with her memory. Singh planned to bring Rika to meet your wife. Easton knew his time was up. He hired an assassin to injure Singh.
“Because the estate hadn’t been put into Easton’s name yet?” I asked.? Zayne nodded. “He needed the old man alive.” I surmised as the puzzle pieces began clicking into place. My father’s warning now made perfect sense. Ashrika had to come out of hiding to claim her shares.
“Only, some fucking attorney got proxy and knew about Ashrika.” Zayne winced and shifted slightly. “She became a problem and—
“Let me guess, Easton hired you to kill her?” Even as I said the words, incredulity tightened my chest and I didn’t want to believe it.
“I’m a trained sniper, Trent. Circumstances, I won’t go into, made me a killer for hire.”
I reared back. His words were like a double punch to the face. “You’re fucking kidding me,” I exploded, shooting up from the floor. My hands on my hips, I glared at him. “A hired killer? Jesus Christ. You’re a sick fuck.” My anger too far gone to care that the man was on his deathbed. “How the fuck do you live with yourself, knowing you almost killed her, knowing you were part of the reason she doesn’t have a memory?” I seethed, pacing the room. Rage, vigilance, and possessiveness flared inside me.
“Easton wanted me dead and had no fucking idea I was the assassin he hired, until today,” Zayne attempted pacification.
“And that makes what you did to her, fucking okay?” I bit out, my jaw ached from being clenched too tight.
“No, it doesn’t.” His shoulders sagged in despair.
I ignored it. My heart swung on a fucking wrecking ball. I wanted to kill him, squeeze the fucking life out of him. “I should tell her, let her know her beloved Zayne is not all that he’s made out to be,” I sneered.
“Don’t, Trent.” He held up a hand, his tone pleading. “Not for me but for her sanity.”
