Page 6 of Vicious Redemption

“What happened? Are you okay? What kept you out so long?” My bare feet pad silently across the carpet as I draw closer, wanting to see if he’s hurt in any way. “Were you arrested? Did you…?” My throat tightens as my fear gets the better of me, making it almost painful to ask what I’m terrified to know. “Hurt my family? No one would tell me anything.”

Tears sting my eyes as the intense sense of isolation comes crashing down around me like a cold tidal wave. But rather than the compassion I so desperately crave, Leo only sneers at me.

“They were following my direct orders, considering you’ve proven completely untrustworthy,” he states, his gaze imperious as I stop dead in my tracks just feet away from him.

His fingers grasp the ends of his bow tie that hangs loosely around the back of his neck, and he whips it off, balling it before tossing it carelessly onto the dresser. Working a few buttons loose on his dress shirt, he prowls slowly toward me, his eyes positively predatory.

“What? Are those crocodile tears already?” He scoffs. “Go ahead then, Tia. I dare you to try and manipulate me again. Pretend you’re the innocent young bride who only wants to please me. Woo me with your fake concern and compassion.”

With each step, he draws dangerously closer, and like a deer in the headlights, I freeze. Speechless at the intensity of his rage, I don’t know what to do. I stand stunned as he closes the remaining distance between us, and strong fingers close around my jaw in an almost painful grip.

“Aren’t you going to try seducing me with your lying lips, try distracting me with your false kisses?”

My chin trembles in his grip as my heart breaks into a panicked sprint. The words catch in my throat, leaving me unable to breathe, let alone speak. And though I know crying will do nothing to help me right now, I can’t stop the tears from pooling in my eyes and trickling down my cheeks.

“Here, let me help you,” he offers, his tone cold and deadly as his hands shift from my face to the keyhole of sheer tulle that lies just above my breasts. Gripping the bodice of my dress, Leo shreds it with astounding force as he roughly undresses me with one violent jerk.

Hurt by his contempt, even if he has reason to doubt me, I sob, jerking away from Leo as I cling to the shreds of the beautiful dress he admired me in before we left for the ball. “Won’t you even let me explain?” I demand, trying to hold myself together as my heart unravels inside my chest.

He scoffs, his proud features contorting in disgust. “Why should I bother when you’re so good at lying?”

“It’s not like you’re entirely innocent here,” I snap, my temper flaring red-hot as he drops the burden of guilt squarely on my shoulders. I’m willing to own up to my mistakes, but I hardly think it’s fair that he wants to make me into the villain right now.

And to my astonishment, my accusation seems to give him pause. He studies me skeptically, then tendons flexing in his jaw. After a moment of silent debate, he crosses his arms. “Alright then, go ahead. Tell me how you slipping information to your father is my fault.” He waits for her explanation, the air humming between us as he dares me to blame him for what happened tonight.

I won’t. Because I know my father’s deception could only have happened because of what I told my sister. But it’s not like my anger was entirely unjustified. “Yes, I might have said some things I shouldn’t have. But you can’t possibly blame me for being angry. You took my virginity to show my father how easily you could ruin him. You hurt me just to make a stupid point. I was horrified the day I found out I had to marry you, but my parents told me it was the only way to protect my family.”

I’m shouting now, my tears streaming freely down my cheeks as I sob with each labored breath. “I agreed to marry you because I didn’t have another choice. But you can’t possibly think I did it because I wanted to be with you—that I loved you after what you did. You used me and knocked me up without a second thought. So, of course, I hatched a plan for revenge. I wanted to hurt you like you hurt me. I wanted to make you suffer the way you made my family suffer.”

Leo stands frozen before me, his eyes watchful, his face masking his emotion, but I can’t stop myself. Now that it’s all coming out, I can barely suck in my next breath before I’m rushing on to finish my story. Because anger is not the emotion I reside in. I feel so much more. And if I don’t say it now, I know I’ll never get the chance.

Inhaling deeply, I pull myself together, wiping the tears from my cheeks as I slow my heartbeat.

“But that was before I got to know you, the real you. I started to see a softer, kinder side to you. Someone who could show concern for the woman he married. Then, I watched you kill that man in the woods, and… it solidified my determination to remove you from power. I’ve never seen someone so cold-blooded. You killed him as easily as a person might swat a fly.”

Pausing for the first time, I study Leo’s expression, wondering if I might not have said too much. But I can’t hold back any longer. If I don’t put my cards on the table now—if I don’t tell him how I really feel, what drove me to the desperate place I was in—he’ll never understand me. And I won’t have a dream of earning his forgiveness.

“But since that day, I’ve seen something new in you. Something that made me change my mind. I chose not to act on the information I gathered about you. I never told anyone about what I saw in the woods. And I hadn’t realized my father knew anything. I never even spoke to him directly.”

As soon as the words leave my mouth, my blood runs cold. I said too much. And I can see it in the fire of his gaze.

“Who have you been passing information to?”

His question is quiet, the warning in his tone making my heart flutter, and I hesitate, not wanting to put Maria in danger. She can’t possibly have meant to cause the damage that she did. She was only trying to help me. My lips part, but I can’t find words to answer.

Leo leans forward, grasping my jaw once again as he gets in my face. “Give me a name, Tia,” he commands, his voice deadly.

This is the cold, callous Leo I discovered in the woods. The one who swats flies from the face of the earth without a second thought. And I can’t unleash him on my sister.

“If I tell you, you have to swear you won’t seek retribution,” I murmur, my voice quivering.

“Why should I promise you anything after tonight?” he demands.

“Promise, Leo. Swear on our unborn child that you won’t hurt the person I name.”

Silence stretches between us, and finally, he releases my face. “Fine,” he agrees grudgingly.

“I told Maria,” I confess, my tears trickling slowly down my cheeks now as I put her fate and mine in my furious husband’s hands. “I told her everything because she’s the only person in this world I can trust. I told her because she’s the one who gave me hope and made me believe that this”—I gesture between me and Leo—“wasn’t going to destroy me. I don’t think she knew what would happen. When I told her I changed my mind, she seemed genuinely happy for me. You can’t blame my sister for what my father’s done.”

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