Page 273 of Vicious Temptation

“Remi...”

“I held you together when you were falling apart, Thiago.” Her breathing turns ragged as she looks up at me. “At your father’s grave...” She presses a trembling hand to her mouth, struggling to speak. “I was there for you because I loved you.”

The past tense hollows me out.

My vision blurs, and I blink hard, but the first tear slips free anyway. She said “loved,” as if whatever she felt for me already belongs to a life she’s leaving behind.

I had her love, and I fucking lost it before I ever got the chance to tell her she had mine.

When she sways toward me, my hands lift to catch her before I stop myself. After everything I’ve done to her, I don’t know if I have the right to touch her anymore.

Then her hand closes around the handle protruding from my abdomen, and my eyes fly to hers.

“Rem, don’t…”

She holds my gaze and wrenches the knife free. The pain nearly drops me as blood pours down the front of my shirt.

Before I can recover, she drives a right hook into my mouth, busting my lip open. I barely taste the iron before her left fist connects with my cheek. One of her rings catches beneath my eyebrow, tearing the skin and sending a warm trail down the side of my face.

I should’ve known better than to think Remi wore anything that couldn’t also double as a weapon.

I’m too slow to get out of the way when she slashes the knife across my ribs. Water runs into the cut, burning as I press a hand against my side and feel blood seep between my fingers.

“Remi, stop.”

The blade comes at me again. I bring my forearms up to protect myself, and it slices over them, leaving several cuts behind.

“Fuck you!”

I reach for her wrist but pull back before I can close my hand around it. I could stop her. I know I could, but using my strength against her after everything I’ve already done would feel like another betrayal.

That hesitation costs me when the blade catches two of my fingers.

“Remi, please.” Desperation roughens my voice as I retreat another step. “I don’t want to hurt you, baby. Please stop.”

“Hurt me?”

She laughs through her tears. “How fucking thoughtful of you.”

With her eyes on mine, she hurls the knife at my face. I jerk my head aside, and it passes so close to my temple I feel the rush of against my skin. The steel strikes the concrete behind me with a sharp crack.

We both freeze.

I look up at her and realize the knife was never the thing I needed to be afraid of.

“I hate you.” Another sob shakes her voice. “I hate you so much.” She drags a trembling hand across her face, smearing what remains of her mascara. “Was any of it real, Thiago?”

“It was all real. Every second I got to know you was real.” I step toward her despite the gun and the blood running beneath my shirt. More tears fall. “Look at me, baby. I lied about why I came into your life, but I will never lie to you about what you became to me after.”

“I can’t.” She shakes her head, sending wet strands of hair across her face. “Because the man I thought I knew...the one I thought I loved...” She struggles to get the rest out. “He doesn’t exist. He never did.”

“Don’t erase him because I was too much of a coward to tell you the truth.” My voice breaks, and I make no attempt to hide it. “I’m standing right here, Remi. I’m the bastard who lied to you, and I’m the same man who held you, laughed with you, fell in love with you. None of that belonged to any mission. It was mine. It was us.”

She stares at me for several seconds, then swipes at her tears with the heel of her hand. When she speaks again, there’s more strength behind the words.

“No.” Her jaw tightens. “You knew my father’s name before I knew yours.”

I open my mouth, but nothing I can say makes that any less ugly.