Second (Betrothed 6)

He didn’t say anything back for a while. “You alright?” His deep voice was filled with the same intensity he always reserved for me, as if I was the only person in the world who made him this on edge.

“Yeah…I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

I didn’t want to answer because I felt pathetic for forgiving Liam so easily. “He apologized…and I forgave him.”

Damien was quiet.

“Thank you for telling me. I told him I showed up on my own, so he has no idea it was you…”

“I don’t care if he does know.”

I kept the phone to my ear and stared at my reflection in the rearview mirror. Even when we sat in silence, I could feel so much for him. It was like he was sitting right beside me in that car, his hand on mine.

“I just wanted to check on you.”

“Thanks…”

After a long pause, he hung up.

But I didn’t get out and walk into the hotel. I just sat there for a while… staring at my own reflection.

19

Damien

I sat at my desk and did nothing.

I had shit to do, calls to make, but I sat there and stared at the paperwork on my desk. I was exhausted because I’d headed to the lab after Liam and Annabella left. Shit needed my attention. I’d called Annabella in my car before I’d stepped inside the bank. My thoughts had been on her all night, worried about the fight she was having with her husband. A part of me was afraid he would hurt her. I’d seen firsthand how all logical thought left his brain when he got angry. And apparently, he’d touched her before…

The thought made me insane.

I was eager to hear from her for another reason…to know if she’d left him. She took off her wedding ring and said their marriage wouldn’t survive. I wanted to know if that was true…for my own selfish reasons.

But she’d stayed.

She stayed with a man who made false promises, a man who forgot about her the second he was enticed by something better, a man who lost his temper and grabbed her. He loved her, but that wasn’t good enough.

I knew Hades was outside my door before I saw him. His footsteps were heavy and quick, as if his hands were closed into fists because he was livid before he even saw me. We had gone our separate ways last night, and I’d left before he could punch me in the face. He called me hours later—but I ignored him.

I knew what was coming. Thought sleeping on it would calm him down.

Nope.

He barged into my office, his tanned skin red because he was furious. The door slammed into the wall, and he approached my desk with large strides. He leaned over the pile of papers and slammed his hand so hard into the desk, he almost made a dent. “What. The. Fuck?” He slammed his hand again, making my pens roll off the surface and my papers slide off from the vibrations. “What the motherfucking fuck?”

I got to my feet and avoided his gaze. “I had to say something, alright—”

“Why?” He gripped his skull before he threw his arms down. “I’ll never understand your goddamn stupidity. Do you try to sabotage everything I care about? Do you try to make my life difficult? After everything we’ve been through, why the fuck would you do this and risk—”

My temper flared, and my rage matched his. I didn’t care if everyone in the building could hear us rip into each other. I didn’t care about our clients sitting in the waiting area. “Because I love—” I shut my mouth when I realized what I was going to say. My temper unleashed my inhibitions, and fucking word vomit exploded out of my mouth. I clenched my jaw hard and kept my lips tightly together.

His demeanor completely changed, the anger slowly draining from his face once he’d completely absorbed my confession. He pulled his fists off the desk and straightened. His hands slid into the pockets of his slacks, and he sighed quietly.

I was glued to the spot, too rigid to move, too rigid to breathe. I didn’t finish the sentence because the words were frightening, but I also didn’t need to finish it because I already knew the truth. Now, it was obvious to me…really fucking obvious. I rubbed the back of my neck then dragged my hand down the front of my face.

Hades continued his stare. “Tell her.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s gonna cause a lot of problems with Liam…” Our professional relationship would be completely destroyed. Not only that, but we would be his enemy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to ambush us both to make us pay for what we’d done. We’d lied to him, purposely misled him, and now we’d taken his wife away.