“She has scars on her back. Lots of scars. They’re not new, though some don’t seem to be all that old either. She’s tried to warn me off her a million times, but there’s this…vulnerability to her. A conflict within her. She’s tormented and breaking. I’ve seen it, Sebastian.”
“All of that only makes her more dangerous. She’s beenaround my wife, my children, and you’ve said nothing to me until now.”
“You have enough on your mind without me adding to it, but with me leaving today, I had to say something. I was handling it.”
“You were not. You’re fucking her, but more than that, you have a twisted fixation with her. You always have. It’s clouding your thoughts and judgment.”
It might be. I’m honestly not sure. I didn’t trust her. Not even a little. But after last night…seeing her that way…I don’t know. Something shifted inside me. Still, my truth is universal.
“I’d never risk Bellamy or the children. Not ever. Not for anyone or anything. I told Bellamy I didn’t trust Marcella and asked her to keep her distance. This was before I found the earring. Bellamy argued with me and said she felt safe with her.”
“We felt safe with fucking Charlotte.”
I pan a hand out toward him. “I agree, and I said that. Marcella is a different situation than Charlotte.”
“How do you know that?” he retorts, looking angry and frustrated. “You know nothing about her.”
He’s right. I know nothing about her. Nothing real. She’s warned me off time and time again. Yet I’m so compelled, and I can’t make heads or tails of it. Am I putting us at greater risk simply because I want her here? Because I want to solve her puzzle and unwrap her mystery? Because I want to be the man who saves her?
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t have her locked up immediately.”
“Because if we do, we’ll never learn her secrets. We’ll never figure out the truth because she won’t tell us. I know it. But if she believes we’re not on to her, that we don’t know she’s the same woman from the wedding, and that we’re suspicious of her, she might lead us to whoever is orchestrating this. Or she’sgenuinely hiding from someone who has been hurting her, and the palace is a safe place to do that. She’s been doing her job, Sebastian. Same as she has for four months. Charlotte showed her hand much faster, and if I hadn’t suspected Marcella was Ella from the start, we’d have no clue about any of this.”
“It takes big money and resources to pull off what she did.”
“Yes,” I agree. “That’s not her. She has nothing. Barely any clothing and no personal possessions. She’s someone’s captive, one way or another.”
He rubs his scruffy jaw. “You realize that makes her even more dangerous.”
I sigh and shift my weight. “Perhaps. I think she’s conflicted. I don’t think she wants to hurt anyone.”
“A caged animal doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but they’ll do whatever they have to, to protect themselves.”
I blow out a breath, my hands going to the top of my head, and I sit in a chair, only to stand back up and pace in a circle. Fuck if he isn’t right. I meet my brother’s steely gaze. “Sebastian, if you want to arrest her and have her questioned, I won’t stop you. I love my family, and I’d rather die than hurt any of you. That’s a fact. If something happened to you because I didn’t act…” I can’t finish that. It’s why our father is dead. “Fuck. I’m a fool.”
“Rowan…” He stops himself, breathing out harshly. “How deep does this go for you with her? Is this sex? Obsession? Or is this…more?”
I drop to the edge of the sofa, my elbows on my thighs, my head in my hands. “I think…how could it be? I don’t know her. Yet, I still feel as though I do. I see her and…fuck, Sebastian, how did you know?”
He chuckles. “You told me.”
I lift my head. “What?”
“You told me I was in love with Bellamy. You were right. I was. But I also trusted her.”
“I’d be an idiot to trust Marcella.”
“But something in you does anyway?” It’s a question, and I consider it seriously.
“Something in me does. Or maybe sees there’s something else there. I don’t know what it is or why it’s there. Maybe I’m lust drunk. Maybe this is my dick doing all the talking.”
“Rowan, you’ve slept around plenty. You’ve never been like this.”
“She walked out on me. Maybe that’s why.”
He gives me a pointed look. “Is it?”
“No,” I answer honestly, feeling the truth behind that simmering in my gut. “But that doesn’t mean that what I’m doing with her isn’t fucking stupid either.”
