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I dropped the basket of ice cream right there in the aisle, and marched out of the store. Anger was an understatement. I was outraged. I was ready to go ballistic. This woman was in my home. Around my kids. And she saw that Harlow construction sign. What kinda game was she playing? Was she using me to get back at him?

The fuck was going on?

Creed’s email came through before I reached my truck. I got behind the wheel and opened the attachment. Melody’s mugshot was on the first page. Her hair was shorter, her face was thinner, but there was no mistaking her.

The woman in that picture had been sleeping in my bed.

I scrolled through the first few pages. Her conviction and sentence were there, along with Golden’s name. Keenan was listed as the child who fired the gun. Roman Harlow appeared throughout the case file as Melody’s estranged husband and the father of both children.

I had noticed the holes in her story. But blinded by love? Lust? I don’t even know anymore. I ignored the red flags. Every time my instincts warned me, I found another excuse because I wanted her.

She had been alone with my grandmother and my daughters for months. Last night, she sat across from me while I talked about making our relationship public and taking her away for the weekend. She kissed me and was down with it. I felt like an idiot.

Wait, could she have killed that horse? For what though? To get rid of Kira? Fuck, had I made a mistake?

I closed the file, started my truck and pulled out of the parking lot hard enough for the tires to chirp against the pavement.

The drive home usually took thirty minutes. I made it in less than twenty.

The gate opened as I approached, and I sped up the driveway before parking crooked in front of the house. I left the truck running and went inside. I slammed the door on my way in. The bang reverberating through my chest.

Storie and Dream were sitting at the dining room table. Storie had pulled her chair close to Dream’s and was helping her work through a page of math problems. Rita sat in the living room talking to Skye, who turned toward me with a smile.

Her smile disappeared when she saw my face.

“Justice, what’s wrong?”

I looked at the woman I had known as Skye Mercer and saw Melody Harlow staring back at me.

“Storie, take Grandma upstairs. Dream, go with them.”

“But Daddy, Storie’s helping me with my homework. I only have two more problems.”

“NOW!”

5

Skye

He knows. He definitely knows. My heart rocketed into my throat, choking my ability to speak. Bullets of sweat rolled down my spine. I could hear everyone scurry out of the room, leaving me alone with Justice.

There was something beastly and primal about him. This was a side I hadn’t quite seen before. I’d witnessed his rage at Kira when he thought she murdered Midnite, but this was different. That rage was nothing compared to the fury radiating from him.

I’ve been beaten by my ex. I’ve been humiliated and harassed by him. But this feeling was different because now, I was the perpetrator. I was the one who did the betraying. If there was one thing I knew about this family, it was that they didn’t take kindly to people they believed had wronged them.

Once the room was empty and it was just Justice and me standing there, I tried to will myself to speak. I tried to pry my lips open, but they only trembled. My heart hammered against my rib cage, aching to jump out and land at his feet in apology.

“Melody Marie Harlow,” he said. My real name.

“I can explain,” I forced out.

“Oh, you can?”

“Look... I... It’s not what you think.”

“Fuck what I think. It’s what I know. You’re a liar. You’ve been lying to me this entire time. I had you around my family. What kind of fucking game are you playing? Huh?”

“Listen, I...”