Beauty in Deception

Slowly, I turn to face him.

“I had word from Warren,” he continues. “He agreed to the exchange.”

CHAPTER 12

Roman

* * *

Evie stares at me with wide eyes. “He did?”

I frown. She sounds doubtful, as if she expected her father not to do everything in his power to get her back.

“He’ll give you the diamond?” she asks.

I don’t reply. I already answered that question when I told her I won’t give Warren a choice.

Fear bleeds into the magnificent green of her irises. “When?”

Her reaction confuses me. I thought she’d be relieved, not scared. “You know when.”

Maybe that’s what she’s apprehensive about—what needs to happen before she leaves this house. The only way I’ll let her walk out of that door is when she’s given her body to me.

Regarding me unblinkingly, she asks, “How much time do I have?”

There’s something wrong with the way she formulates that question. “You don’t seem in a rush to see your father.”

She wrings her hands together. “I just want to know when it’s going to happen. I already agreed to your terms. How long after that will you make the exchange?”

I shove my hands into my pockets to prevent myself from touching her. “After we’ve had sex? When I’m ready.”

“When will that be?”

Smiling, I say, “Soon.”

“Okay.” She nods to herself, her gaze trained internally as she chews her lip.

To hell with not touching her. Reaching out, I cup her cheek. “It’ll be fine. You won’t be harmed. I’ll make sure of it.”

Her voice is soft. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

My frown deepens. She seems certain she’s going to get hurt. She probably will, although it won’t be physically. It’s a fact I already regret. I justified dragging her into my war because Warren’s blood flows through her veins. Yet now that she’s standing in front of me looking impossibly vulnerable, her youthful face reminds me that she was a child when the sins that shaped my future went down. No matter how much I like to tell myself otherwise, she’s innocent.

Standing so close, there’s something else I notice. I notice her as a woman. She does things to my body. She makes me want. Today isn’t the night I kidnapped her. It’s not the rush, the high, or the adrenaline. It’s not the power. It’s her. I should hate her, but the line where my feelings are concerned is getting blurred.

I drop my hand from her cheek and step away from her. “You better be quick about that walk in the garden. My doctor will be here in an hour to examine you.”

“Your doctor?”

“He’s good. You don’t have to worry. I trust him with my life.”

“Why?” she asks in a thin voice.

I drop my gaze to her hip. “Routine checkup.”

She licks her lips, drawing my attention to her lush mouth. “I’m fine.”

It makes me want to kiss her again. “It’s my responsibility to make sure.”

Her gaze flits to my cheek, the one on which she left the scratches that have almost healed. “It’s going to leave marks.”

I chuckle. “Then I’ll wear them proudly.”

Her back turns rigid. “Because you won the fight?”

“There was no fight, Evie,” I say, giving her the truth. “You never stood a chance.”

It’s a fact I’m still furious about and blaming Warren for. I’ll never make that mistake. I’ll never send Evie into the world with insufficient protection. It only proves how certain Warren was of himself to have underestimated his enemy.

“Come to my room in one hour,” I say.

She turns.

“And Evie? You don’t want to make me come looking for you.”

She all but runs from the kitchen.

She’s using the excuse of getting fresh air as an escape. The fact that she’s escaping me doesn’t leave me unaffected. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but she won’t escape me for much longer. The clock is ticking. Warren agreed, and she said yes.

While Evie wanders outside with a guard on her tail, I use the time to make the arrangements surrounding the exchange. The doctor rings my doorbell on exactly the agreed hour. I meet him downstairs and show him to my room. Evie waits there as I instructed.

Knowing my presence will be unwelcome, I leave the doctor to his work and join Mateo and Andrew in the recreation room. I have yet another bone to pick with my brother.

“Gym,” I tell Mateo. “Now.”

He looks up from chalking the cue. “What’s eating you?”

“Evie,” I say, grinding my teeth. “Making her kneel? With your fucking fist in her hair?”

Andrew puts down his beer on the edge of the pool table and backs away.

“She told you that?” Mateo asks, his eyes tightening.

I take off my jacket. “I forced it out of her.”

He puts down the cue. “I said it was a mistake.”

Forget about the gym. I’m so fucking angry, I won’t make it there. Folding back my sleeves, I say, “You better hit back when I take a swing at you. If not, you’ll end up in the ER, tonight.”