Page 130 of My Beautiful Sin

After a moment, though, he lets go and moves to Anna.

“Why?” he says as he kicks her weapon away. She’s slouched against the wall, the curtain panels that are still hanging now blowing in the breeze. “Why?” he asks again, and I cringe against the depth of pain and betrayal in his voice.

He grabs some of the curtain and wads it up, then uses it to staunch the blood. “Goddammit, Anna I need you to tell me why.”

She looks at him, then shifts her gaze to me. “We could have been friends,” she says, her voice breaking. “You took things that weren’t yours.”

“Devlin isn’t a thing.” I start to move toward them, but Ronan holds me back, a firm hand on my shoulder. “And this wasn’t just about jealousy.”

Devlin looks up at me. “What are you talking about?”

“I checked my texts earlier. Cyrus Mulroy is dead. That’s why he hasn’t returned my call. Anna killed him, didn’t you? Because he had tapes of her.”

The hatred in her eyes is enough to answer that question.

“Did you know Peter was filming you? Or did he have secret cameras?”

I see her throat move as she swallows. Then she turns from me, her face melting into warm goo as she focuses on Devlin. “He sold them,” she says, her voice thin and her breath raspy. “He liked to tape me, but then he sold them to Cyrus and said he was done with me. Done.”

“Devlin, we need to call 911.” My throat is thick with both fury and heartbreak. “She’s losing a lot of blood.”

“He was going to … put those tapes out there,” Anna rasps, as Devlin stands and pulls out his phone. “Your fucking girlfriend’s fucking uncle … Had you kill him … That’s why … that’s why I told you to do it. Pretended the order was from him … from your father.”

Her lips move and she struggles for words. “Had to … Had to punish Peter because he—”

Her eyes go wide, her body stiffening as if she finally realized she said too much.

I’m in shock, the reality of her words coalescing in front of me into a picture I really don’t want to see. The Wolf never ordered Peter’s execution. Anna set Devlin up to murder her lover in order to get revenge for selling the tapes. And all along, Anna has been harassing me, trying to get rid of me. Until, finally, she decided to just kill me.

“She’s poison,” Anna says, her eyes drifting to me, her face twisting as a burst of energy seems to fill her.

She reaches behind her, and I drop to the floor, certain I know what’s coming. I see her pull out the gun. I hear the blam of the bullet, and then I see her slump to the floor, her secondary weapon falling from her now-limp fingers.

I whip around to Ronan, but he hadn’t pulled the trigger this time.

Devlin had.

He’d killed the woman he’d thought was his friend to save me.

I gasp, then run into his arms. This time, Ronan doesn’t stop me. We sink to the ground, holding each other as Ronan dials 911.

“I’m sorry,” I say, certain his heart must be breaking, his whole reality shifting. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I told you,” he whispers. “I will always protect you. No matter what the price. No matter what the cost.”

Epilogue

“Don’t even think about it,” I say, as Devlin’s hand snakes up my thigh, taking advantage of the slit in the ballgown. “There is no way you’re getting me all mussed up before you accept this award.”

“And after?” he asks.

“After’s a no-brainer,” I say. “How many girls get to say they fucked the Humanitarian of the Year in the back of a limo?”

“Would hate for you to miss out on that,” he says.

“Good. Because I don’t intend to. Still,” I add, taking his hand and sliding it up my leg. “Just a preview.” I guide his fingers higher, until it becomes sweetly, deliciously, frustratingly obvious that I’m not wearing a single thing under this dress.

He groans in protest when I take his hand away. “We’ll take the long way back to the hotel,” I promise him.