Page 38 of His

Twenty-Five

Sabine

Holy shit.

Astor and I gawk at each other.

“Carlos and Valerie were having an affair? Carlos? The man she accused of kidnapping her?”

Astor gapes at the email, his jaw slack in shock. Of all the things he expected to find, I’m positive his wife having a long-standing affair with his arch nemesis wasn’t one of them.

I watch the red rise up his neck, his cheeks, all the way to the tip of ears.

My stomach sinks.

I don’t want Mad Loose-Cannon Astor to come back.

He seethes, “I knew there was more to the story than Carlos suddenly wanting revenge for our long-standing feud. It never made sense.” He drags his fingers through his hair. “I should have seen it. Valerie was in on her kidnapping from the beginning. She conspired to kill me.”

He surges up from his chair.

“No!” I surge up from mine and grab his arm. “Stop. Don’t talk to her yet. You need to take some breaths. Calm down. We need to read these emails and understand exactly what was happening.”

“I know what’s happening. They both hated me, and wanted me dead. Period.”

“Okay, but, you can’t speak to her until you’ve calmed down.”

My grip tightens around his arm. He’s trembling.

Finally—finally—he dips his chin in agreement.

We refocus on the opened email on the screen, from Carlos to Valerie.

“ . . . the plan is almost in place . . .” I read out loud, frowning. “It’s dated almost a week before she was kidnapped by him. That must be what he’s referring to.”

“It was all a ruse. She was in on faking her own death, then reemerging and luring me to that hangar—where you almost died.”

“And where you were supposed to die. But instead, Carlos died.” I look at Astor. “So, Valerie lost both her sister, and the man she was in love with.”

“I should have killed him years ago.”

On a guttural growl, he lunges toward the door.

“Stop, Astor.” I grab him with both hands and force him to look at me. He has the same look in his eye that he had when he almost beat a man to death for flirting with me.

It scares me.

“Stop. Not now. Take a deep breath. We need to understand everything before going to her. You cannot go to her like this. I won’t allow it.”

For the next two hours, Astor and I read hundreds of emails between Carlos and Valerie, highlighting a surprisingly passionate and emotional love affair, though they were rarely able to see each other due to Astor’s control over her. Together, Valerie and Carlos had one common enemy: Astor Stone.

As I sit here, reading emails next to him, I can’t help but notice the similarities between Valerie and me. Valerie felt like a prisoner in her marriage, while I was an actual prisoner for a short period of time. After all, it’s how Astor and I met. He kidnapped me.

I get a sick feeling that nothing is going to go as Astor or I planned.

Twenty-Six

Brittney

---