Cruel Lies (Lies 4)

“No thanks to you.”

His eyebrows pull together, and his body tenses. “Actually, thanks to me. You shouldn’t be married to a man who used your lost son to blackmail you.”

“Ha, you’re one to talk since you married Phoenix for basically the exact same reason.”

He growls. “So I guess we are doing this? Let’s have it. Yell at me for marrying a woman who has been raising your child as if he were her own son. Do it. Tell me how much of a monster I am for fucking you while married. I’m fucking horrible—I know. But I don’t care about what you think of me or even what Phoenix thinks of me—the only people I care about are Rose and Atlas. They are safe and loved—that’s all that matters.”

Silence.

Tears water my eyes, but I don’t speak. I can’t be mad at him for marrying Phoenix. Even if he wasn’t married, it wouldn’t change anything. I still couldn’t marry him. He’d never be mine…

Phoenix has to come. Even though she hates me. Even though I hate her. Even though I want to thank her and kiss her for everything she’s done for my son. I still hate her, but I also owe her my life.

“Fine, Phoenix comes.”

Langston settles back, surprised by how easily he won that fight.

“When do you want to leave?” he asks with a soft, bewildered expression.

“Tomorrow. I want everything done as soon as possible.”

“Okay, tomorrow it is then.”

Silence stretches again, allowing the sultry tingling to reemerge between us. The spark that we stoked, instead of extinguished, is a full-blown fire between us. We have to find a way to put it out, though. If we don’t, it will spread until we’ve burned everyone we love in the process.

“You should meet Atlas before we leave,” Langston says.

I shake my head. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

Waylon—that’s why. Waylon still has a hold on me, even in death. He owns my soul, and I’m not sure if it’s safe to see Atlas.

“I just can’t.” I look down at my hands, picking at my nails nervously.

I hear Langston move against the scratchy fabric as he slides toward me. From the corner of my eye, I see his hands grab onto mine, gently stopping me from anxiously twisting them around.

“You should meet him. It can be brief, and you shouldn’t tell him who you are, but I think you should meet him. Just look at him so you can know he’s your son.”

“I believe you. There is no reason for you to lie to me.” I hesitate a second, then ask my next question. “Do you love Atlas as a son?”

“Yes,” he says without hesitation.

That’s the only confirmation I needed to hear.

“But you won’t meet with him?”

“No.”

“Why? If something happens to us, he deserves to have met you. Do it for him if not for yourself.”

I look up and pull my hands free, staring at Langton’s dark eyes, avoiding his lush lips and sharp jaw I want to run my tongue over.

“No,” I say definitively.

Langston shakes his head in frustration. His scowl tells me he thinks less of me for not seeing my son, not giving him the chance to meet his birth mother.

He doesn’t know that I’m doing it to protect him. Even though Waylon is gone, someone will continue his plans. I don’t know who it is, or if they will, in fact, continue Waylon’s plans, but until I know for sure, I can’t risk it.