Page 17 of His Collateral Wife

"Your father is welcome to try, but he won't succeed. The only reason he was able to capture me that day was because I stopped giving a damn. I was a different man then. I was ready to die at that time...and I know would have if an angel hadn't decided to interfere."

Words like his are something I've only heard in my prayers and dreams. I can't recall any living human saying ever anything nice to me, and I just don't know what to do or say.

"You bought me time, and it was just enough for my team to locate me. I didn't want to leave you, but I also knew staying too long without a plan wouldn't solve anything. So I had to make a choice. I asked a couple of my men to stay behind on a neighboring island, undercover. I knew even then I'd come back for you."

My heart is racing like mad, and I wrap my arms around Pluto and bury my face in his fur to hide my confusion. Everyone on the island has either ignored or mistreated me. Am I truly allowed to believe that my husband means every word he's said?

Ghosts from my past start crawling into my mind. They're from that part of my life when I was still lost and in despair, and they're all whispering tauntingly into my ear.

He lied to you, and he could lie to you again.

Maybe he's still after something, and he thinks you're the key to it.

You are still the daughter of one of the world's most powerful and dangerous criminals.

Do you really think that wouldn't matter to a high-ranking agent like him?

Logic tells me it would be the height of insanity to trust anything he says.

Just look at your own father.

I was his Trojan horse when he signed the peace treaty.

But he had every intention of breaking his word from the start.

So who's to say your husband isn't the same?

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Eden."

His quietly spoken words startle me, and my heart and mind are immediately at war the moment I find myself gazing into his eyes.

All I can see is gentleness and tenderness.

Honor and truth.

Please help me, God.

My heart wants so badly to believe this is all real, but...

"I thought I understood everything," I say shakily, "when all I knew was that you were Dauphin Tueur."

"I gave you my real name from the start," he reminds me.

"But only because you knew I wouldn't recognize it."

A glimmer of a smile curves over his lips. "Touché."

"So why then?" I blurt out. "If you were just another mafioso, then the treaty you had signed with my father would make absolute sense. You spare his life. He gives you monthly tributes in return."

"That's what we supposedly agreed on, oui."

My heart sinks.

Supposedly, he says.

Does that mean he also hadn't any intention of keeping his word from the start?

"But we both know that contract will never be enough to bind your father."

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