Page 49 of In the Dark

“You made it?” He seemed intrigued that I could but didn’t move toward me at all. It was like he was holding himself back.

I nodded. “I have a few other skills rather than being just your wife.”

“Oh, I’m aware of your other skills, Viper.”

He still hadn’t touched my arm, so I held it out further. “Come on, feel it. I don’t bite.”

He chuckled and combed one large hand of his through his hair before sighing at the ceiling. “You do bite, Viper. The scar on my back is proof of that, but you’re standing in front of me without a bra on asking me to touch you. Feels like a trap, but I’m almost willing to take the risk.”

I shook my head slowly, keeping my gaze on his. “I’m just trying to extend an olive branch for now. We can’t be enemies for two years.”

“I never wanted to be your enemy in the first place,” he grumbled, and then smoothed a hand down my arm over the fabric and back up again to the collar, where he dragged his fingers against my skin. “It’s soft, but not the softest thing I’ve ever touched.”

The insinuation was there. The temptation too. But Callahan was quick to move his hand back down my arm again until it met my hand, where he wove his fingers through mine. Then he took a step back and was walking again, pulling me down another hall as he chuckled. He brought my hand up to his lips and brushed them over the back of my hand like I was somehow precious to him as he said, “Let’s try to get through this night without turning into enemies again, huh?”

I hummed, trying not to read into his words or into the fact that his palm was warming mine and I wasn’t pulling away.

Why did he have to charm me while leading me to my family’s indiscretions? I held up our hands in the dim light and murmured to him, “Just don’t give me another reason to stab you then, Callahan.”

He smiled his stupid perfect smile, and of course my body almost shivered at seeing it.

This is how I’d have to feel for two years, I guess. Like I was enjoying the company of a man who should be my enemy but seemed to be telling me that my uncle had always been the one lying to me.

Uncle Paolo better not have done this. I grumbled a swear toward the ground. It was directed at Paolo because we all knew where his resting place was. Perla and Monte had told me why the Diamonds went after Paolo, and I understood those reasons. They wanted our East Coast, and they wanted to make an example of Paolo after Paolo had tried to take Fran.

That, I believed.

Paolo mouthed off and had made the fatal mistake of falling in love with Lex, who had been Jameson’s wife before he’d met Mia. They’d found true love, and Jameson couldn’t deal with that, Monte had said, but Paolo had also tried to get Fran for Lex. That was the fatal error … but trafficking?

He absolutely wouldn’t. And yet, something a lot like doubt rattled in my bones.

As much as I hated to admit it, Callahan and Jameson were smart. The Knight empire grew daily with the businesses they controlled.

And now, I was at the mercy of my stupid fiancé just to find out what my uncle was doing without telling me. I stared at his broad back as I followed him through another million hallways and down a flight of stairs to an extravagant garage filled with expensive vehicles.

“Jesus,” I muttered at the excess.

“Nope. They’re all mine,” Callahan said with all the confidence in the world.

“Not something to be proud of.”

He turned to study me, his face falling. “You don’t like cars?”

“I like one car for what I need. The rest is showing off.”

“Or the rest is what I wanted.” He shrugged. “I don’t buy materialistic things for others. But I deserve them for myself if that’s what I want, no?”

“I … well, I guess.”

“Exactly. So I got them rather than worrying about other peoples’ opinions.”

My point was that it was excessive, but somehow he’d flipped it and made it about enjoying himself. It was a concept I don’t think I really considered until that moment.

He didn’t unlock any of the doors until he’d woven through a few and opened the passenger side of a sleek black one for me.

Then, we drove in silence. The questions I had, I didn’t want answers from him. He would twist even more about my family, and I didn’t want to hear his side. I wanted cold, hard evidence and nothing else.

I took in the beauty of the little community he called home. The lawns were immaculate. The people walking up and down the sidewalks looked put together. Some waved to him, and he even rolled down his window at one point to say hi back.