Page 3 of Tempting Devil

“Either someone planted his fingerprints there to fuck with us.”

“Or…” Liam prodded, although I could hear the hesitation in his voice.

“Or Samuel Tate’s back from the dead.”

Chapter One

Samuel

Five Years Ago

The reflection of the warm, golden light danced and shimmered on the sleek surface of the diamond, making it sparkle against the dimly lit backdrop of my home office.

There were a thousand things I should have been doing besides staring at this engagement ring. That was the thing no one ever told me about success — with success came the responsibility to ensure the livelihoods of each and every one of my employees.

But right now, all I could think about was Imogene.

And how it felt like my plans for giving her this ring were slipping away.

I thought it would go off without a hitch. I’d surprise her with a belated birthday trip to Hilton Head now that she was done with finals. We’d take Ollie, since she loved that dog as much as I did. I’d attach the ring to his collar, then have him run up to her. When she’d notice the ring box on his collar, I’d drop down to one knee and ask her to be my wife.

But it didn’t look like that would be happening this weekend.

Unbeknownst to me, my best friend and business partner — who also happened to be one of Imogene’s closest friends — also planned a surprise for her. An elaborate party at The Swan House in Atlanta he bought out for the occasion, costing him thousands of dollars.

Imogene didn’t even like parties, especially the type of party Liam liked to throw, inviting anyone who was someone to be there.

I hoped to use this as a way to convince her to finally tell him the truth about us, like I’d been begging her to do since her actual birthday.

While I wanted to keep what we had a secret from my best friend in the beginning, too, I now regretted ever making that agreement. Wished I’d thrown caution to the wind and refused to hide what we had from everyone.

I thought I was doing the right thing. I saw the way Liam looked at her. Knew his feelings for her went beyond that of a close friend. A part of me hoped he’d eventually get over it once he realized she didn’t return those feelings.

That never happened.

Now, I was tired of having to hide what I shared with Imogene because she was scared of how Liam might react. Of losing him as a friend. Would she ever want to tell him the truth?

Or was she content for me to remain her dirty little secret?

I thought buying her a ring and proposing would show her how serious I was.

Now, after our argument earlier today, I questioned everything.

Even if I convinced her to take this next step, was this what our marriage would be like? Her always choosing Liam over me because of some misplaced responsibility she felt toward him, all because her sorry excuse for a sperm donor took Liam’s mother from him?

From the beginning, I thought their friendship was toxic. After witnessing how much he manipulated her over the past year, that feeling had only grown stronger.

What would it take for her to see what everyone else did?

The shrill chirping of my cell broke the silence, and I shut the velvet box, tucking the ring back into the top drawer of my desk.

Grabbing my phone off the surface, I clicked on the incoming text from Jonah, one of the teenagers I mentored at the local community center I founded a few years ago when my gaming platform took off.

If it weren’t for this kind of program, I wouldn’t be where I was today. There was no question in my mind about starting a program like this as my own way of doing something useful with the money I’d made, instead of simply watching it grow in my bank account.

Jonah:

The asshole came home drunk again.

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