Page 44 of Creatures in the Night

“What happened next?”

“I started to get a bad feeling because why not inform me of the change before my shift?” she went on. “Why not let me know that my routine would be disrupted when you first assigned him to me? Why not explain how it worked when we first met?” She let out a deep breath as she shook her head a little. “Anyway, before I could ask more questions, someone slammed my body up against the building, knocking the wind from my lungs. Though I didn’t know it at the time, but my body spun just as the first bullet grazed my head, sending me to the ground, and then, as soon as I dropped, I felt the second gunshot to my arm.”

“What next, baby?” I asked, doing my best to appear calm.

“As I was still trying to process what was happening, I heard Craig telling one of the shooters to hurry up and make a clean shot, and to not mess it up.” She let out another tired breath. “The…the first guy instructed Craig to stand next to my body, so that it’ll look like he took the shot trying to protect me.” Her dark eyes hardened, and there was going to be nothing left of Craig by the time that I was done with him. “Then Craig said that you better appreciate what they were doing since he might bleed out if the other guy fucked it up.”

“Shea-”

She put her hand up to shut me up, and knowing that I owed her, I did. “A second guy suggested that they check if I was dead, but Craig told him not to go near me because it might look suspicious if my body was messed with. Craig told him to steal my purse to sell a mugging gone wrong, and that he’d finish the job if I wasn’t already dead. Craig said…he said that there was no way that they were going to fuck it up for you.”

“Then what?” I bit out, rage making it hard to even speak.

“The second guy ended up shooting Craig twice to sell the story better,” she continued. “After the second shot, Craig told them to leave and to remember that they don’t know each other. The second guy joked that they didn’t know each other until Craig needed them again, and that’s when Craig told them that there was only one bitch that needed killing. Luckily or unluckily for me, someone found us before Craig could check my pulse to see if I was really dead or not.”

I didn’t say anything as the truth ate away at me. Even though Craig had acted on his own, this shit really was my fault. Had I not treated Shea so casually or spoken about her so dismissively, then maybe Craig wouldn’t have taken my comments about not wanting a wife so seriously. Shea had been targeted because of me, and that was something that I was going to have to take to my grave when the time came. I had failed her in every fucking way, and my manhood was taking a real motherfucking beating because of it. Yeah, Craig was going to pay in blood, but making him pay for what he’d done to my wife was going to do nothing towards getting her to ever trust me, much less love me.

“Shea, I did not order your hit,” I finally said. “I know that you don’t believe me, but it’s the truth.”

She looked away, her eyes falling to the thousands of bubbles covering her body. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Since I’m in love with you, I disagree,” I replied quietly.

“I don’t know what you want me to say to that,” she said as she still studied the bubbles.

“You’re never going to believe me, are you?” I asked, and the tightness in my chest was uncomfortable enough for me to finally know what panic felt like.

Shea lifted her eyes back my way before saying, “That you didn’t order the hit? No, I’m not.”

“So, then I guess it’s pointless to ask if you’re ever going to believe that I love you,” I added.

“Pretty much,” she replied brutally.

She held my gaze as I stood up from the toilet, then walked over to the tub. Staring down at my wife, I said, “Okay, I can accept that. I can accept it because this is my fault. Nevertheless, you are my wife, Shea. You are my wife, and I will expect you to act accordingly. We will never be divorced, and I will never allow you to leave me ever again.” Her jaw ticked stubbornly, but she didn’t interrupt me. “You might never come to love me, but you will honor me, obey me, be faithful to me, and give me children when the time comes. Do I make myself clear?”

“Do I have a choice?” she bit out.

“No.”

Looking back at the bubbles, she said, “Got it.”

“I hope that you do, baby,” I told her. “Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself paying a price that you won’t be able to afford.”

Chapter 28

Shea~

Nothing was more painful than heartbreak, so pride was the magic behind making sure that your heart never got broken. Pride was also the magic that helped you get over a heartbreak should you end up experiencing one anyway. Heartbreak was so devastating that people often chose bitterness just to avoid ever having to feel that kind of pain ever again.

So, was I giving Noah a fair chance?

Probably not.

Did I feel guilty about it?

No.

However, I could admit to feeling bereft over my decision to shut and lock the door on any possibilities of something more with Noah. Yeah, I was probably cutting off my nose to spite my face, but falling in love with Noah Murphy was the most reckless thing that a woman could do, next to believing that he loved her in return. Noah wasn’t a hearts or flowers kind of man, and those were the ones that always had heartbreak written all over them.

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