Page 164 of Theirs to Tempt: The Marriage Claim

I look down at Voss’s message again.

“He thinks you’re a hypocrite.”

Lucian’s mouth tightens.

“He’s right.”

And the irony is almost unbearable.

Malcolm Voss does not care whether or not I have agency.

He wanted revenge. He wanted to throw a match into our lives and enjoy whatever burned.

But the weapon only works because it finds something combustible.

This morning I asked my husband a direct question.

He possessed information that affected my understanding of my own life, my marriage, and the men I had chosen the night before.

“When were you going to tell me?”

He sets his jaw.

“Damn it, Lucian! Answer me.”

I drop his phone on the desk as I fight for control.

I’m coming apart, fracturing from the inside out. “This morning…” I swallow the emotion in my throat. “This morning after everything that happened yesterday, after you handed me access to the archive and promised me the truth, you still decided that I didn’t need to know.”

“I was trying to protect⁠—”

“Don’t. Just don’t.”

Pain flashes across his face, so naked and unexpected that for one terrible second I want to go to him.

I don’t.

Lucian goes utterly still.

“I’m making an informed decision.”

His face drains of color.

My chest aches so badly I can barely breathe.

“I’m going back to Houston.”

Chapter Forty-Five

Sophie

Houston, Texas

I’m numb.

Horribly, awfully numb.

I have no idea what time we left Las Vegas or how long we spent in the air. The hours since I read Voss’s message have blurred into airports, cars, silence, and the persistent pressure behind my eyes that comes from being too exhausted to cry anymore.