Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

I tore open my door, seeing just a glimpse of him would do. Like before, when I used to watch him.

I stopped short on the stairs. Ellie was on her knees before Grayson, crying.

“Please, Mr. Crowne. Please. I have nowhere else to go. My life—I…please.”

“You’ll manage,” he said.

Ellie ran off, tears in her eyes.

The first night with Grayson blasted through me.

He was wearing another three-piece suit. It looked impeccable on him, tailored to his tall, lean frame. The charcoal color was timeless, and his rose gold hair didn’t have a strand out of place. He was perfect. Cold.

And he wasn’t Grayson.

“Who are you?”

He tensed at my voice, then turned to face me, jaw flexed.

“What happened to the Grayson that donates his shoes? The one that made sure my uncle’s wish came true? You just…” I looked away. “I’m starting to wonder if that Grayson ever existed, or if you were always that man who threatened me at the hospital.”

I was slowly watching the Grayson I knew dissolve before my eyes.

“I came to check on you…” Because I was worried. Because I’m a fucking idiot. “This was a bad idea. My husband is waiting for me.”

“If you mention your husband one more fucking time—”

I spun. “You’ll what? Threaten to send me away? Get someone off in front of me? Marry her after you fucked me? Threaten to lock me away?”

He worked his jaw to the side.

“You don’t care about me. You never did. You’re just bothered by the idea of West touching something you thought belonged to you.”

His eyes grew, his lips parted.

Grayson pounded to me. “Get it through your fucking skull, Story. I don’t give a shit about that. He hurt you. He’s continuing to hurt you. I let it happen. I’m supposed to protect you.” His words were strangled and raw.

I don’t know why they bothered me so much.

I guess I wanted him to be a little bit irritated by the prospect of me sleeping with West. The same way it ate and ate at me imagining him with Lottie.

“You want the truth? No one wants this baby but us. If I have to stay married to Lottie to keep you safe, I will.”

“How fucking chivalrous of you, Grayson.”

I shoved him, but he grabbed my elbow, thrusting me against the stair’s railing, yet throwing his hand behind me so my back was cushioned.

“Let me go.”

His jaw clenched. “You shouldn’t have said anything. You should have kept walking. Shouldn’t have let me know you were here.”

“So let me go.”

His hand at my back fisted the fabric of my shirt, ripping it from my skirt.

“I don’t want you anymore, Grayson.”

He laughed, dark. “Liar.”