You sure your brain is what he infested?
He had killed her father. She could never forgive that even if this new version of him seemed like a good man. She couldn’t risk believing it.
He’s a killer. Remember that.
She stared down at the pill. Maybe Charisse was right. Maybe she’d sunk too deep. Maybe she was in way over her head.
Stop it. Because of him, your father is no longer here.
Her phone alerted her that Rafe was essentially outside the door. She glanced at the little white pill again. Could she do it? Could she hurt him?
Her hands shook. She knew the answer before she even asked it. She couldn’t. Because you’re an idiot, and you’re falling for him.
Even though she knew everything he showed her was a lie, her hands still trembled as she held the little pill.
Despite all the things she said to herself, she knew it was true. She was screwed. She’d gone ahead and fallen in love with the mark. She put the pill back in the bottle and placed the cap on it before tossing it back into her purse.
If she couldn’t see this through, her only option was to leave him. And that thought hurt more than anything.
When he walked in the door, she instantly knew something was wrong.
“Hey,” she said warily, then poured him a glass of wine.
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. That was the smile he gave people so they wouldn’t look too closely. Maybe someone who’d never seen his real one wouldn’t know the difference, but it hit her like a ton of bricks. He was hiding something from her. Her other clue something was horribly wrong was the way he took the glass from her and drained it.
She took the glass and set it on the coffee table. “Is everything okay? How was work?”
Rafe hung his coat in the front closet before sitting on the couch. He let out a little sigh when he sat that told her he was tired. That really confirmed her suspicion. The man had unbelievable stamina. She blushed, thinking of how many ways he’d proven that to her. It would take more than just a stressful day to make Rafe tired. Then he turned his head, and she saw the scratch on the side of his neck. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned him from head to toe.
She took one of his hands and gasped. “You got in a fight?”
Rafe sighed and stopped struggling. “Not exactly.”
Something about the way he said it made her stomach pitch. She thought about all the times he’d asked her who had hurt her over the past weeks and his insistence that he’d make it right for her, and her stomach sank.
“Rafe, what did you do?” she whispered.
He glanced over at her. “You’ll be safe now. No one’s going to hurt you.”
Oh God. Diana closed her eyes and swallowed the bitter tang of guilt. He’d found the poor guy she’d pretended was her ex-boyfriend, and if the state of his knuckles was any indication, he’d probably beaten the guy to a pulp.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” That was the understatement of the century. He was trying to defend her nonexistent honor and had almost taken out some poor guy who had nothing to do with anything. Diana felt like she was drowning under the weight of all the lies between them.
“You’re mine, and I take care of what’s mine. You make me feel things, Diana.” He dipped his mouth to hers, and as soon as their tongues met, electricity coursed through her body.
She reminded herself of the million reasons why they shouldn’t do this. At the core, he was a killer and she was a liar. He could have killed that guy today based on her lies. There was just too much wrong between them, secrets and lies and agendas. But somehow when they were together, it all fell away and none of it seemed like it mattered.
But it did. People were getting hurt because of their mistakes.
Diana placed her fingertips against his mouth, trying to stop things before they spun out of control. She had a tendency to lose track of time and space when she was in his arms. But she needed to make sure some poor guy hadn’t just died because of her.
“Rafe. Tell me what happened.”
By the mulish expression on his face, she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then she poked him in the side.
“I paid a visit to that asshole who hurt you.”
Shit, shit, shit. What had he told Rafe? She swallowed. “Is he still alive?” Her heart squeezed.