Page 144 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

Caleb turns my chair toward him.

“You were extraordinary.”

“I made an educated guess.”

“You read him.”

Lucian rises and moves behind me.

“No,” he says. “You understood what he needed, then used it against him.”

His hands settle on my shoulders.

I look down at the black card.

“What happens now?”

“We review the archive,” Caleb says.

“We?”

“Yes.”

I turn enough to look up at Lucian. “You’re going to let me see it?”

“It concerns your family.”

“That has never stopped either of you from deciding what I should know.”

His fingers tighten slightly.

“No.”

I hold up the case between us.

“Then whatever is on this, I see it when you do. No edited summary. No selective version designed to protect me.”

The men exchange one of their silent looks.

I recognize it now.

Not agreement.

Debate.

“You trusted me when the stakes were real,” I say. “Now trust me with the truth.”

Caleb answers first.

“Agreed.”

I look at Lucian.

His jaw tightens.

“Lucian.”

For several seconds, he says nothing.