“I could ask you the same,” he said. “You think I’m the one with secrets but since the night that you saw me watching my little video with Gabrielle, you’ve been rash. Unpredictable. You have any idea how much you scared me when you came back covered in her blood? You told me you’d never been in a fight in your life but now you’re the kind of girl who comes home wearing some other girl’s blood? The fact that she was missing the next day was just… unreal to me. I mean how was I supposed to know what you were going to do next? Attack Audra, maybe? Or any other woman you saw me talk to?”
I crawled to my feet and backed up two steps. “You know I didn’t kill Gabrielle.”
“I don’t want to know, Lara. I’ve spent this summer wrestling back any thought that makes me wonder if my fiancée is a murderer.”
“Liar, you know I didn’t do it, I know you do!”
“I don’t, Lara,” Jackson shrugged casually. “But what I do know is that I have this shirt and that voicemail. And if I want, I can get security footage from our building. They’ll just dial is back to the night Gabby went missing and they’ll see you coming in a bloody mess.” His eyes flicked to my passport. “The fact that you want to flee the country right now is just the cherry on top of all this. Unless you want to live running from authorities for the rest of your life, I’d suggest you stay right fucking here where you belong.” Ambling over, Jackson tilted his head and cupped my chin, his ice blue eyes studying mine with amusement. “So what do you think now, babe? Do you still want to leave?”
Burning tears streamed down my cheeks as I stared up at him. I hated myself. I hated myself for Gabby and for the fact that Jackson had rendered me speechless, useless. Essentially his hostage.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jackson murmured, leaning in to kiss me. When I shrunk away, he pressed me against the door. “Come on. Don’t be upset, baby,” he said gently, running his thumb over my cheek to wipe a tear. “Everything will be fine again soon. I’ll put all those things back in the safe where they belong and no one will ever find them. Unless you want them to. Do you?”
I was shaking so hard my jaw rattled in my skull. “No,” I finally managed my choked reply.
“I didn’t think so,” Jackson took my hand, slipping my engagement ring back onto my finger. He plucked the passport from my hands. “Now let’s just forget about this and talk about what I did with Audra and what you did with Sawyer, so we can go back to being normal again.” Holding my jaw, he pressed a rough kiss on my lips. “’Cause we’re going to go back to normal, babe. We’re always going to be us, baby. Everyone’s favorite couple, Jackson and Lara.”