Page 33 of His Collateral Wife

No, I think numbly. I actually didn't remember at all, but I should have. Heartbreak seems to have made me dumber by the second, and I just don't know what to think anymore.

"Please just let me go," I say brokenly. "My father has obviously figured things out. He knows you're not just Dauphin Tueur but that you're also the same man who escaped his clutches."

"You don't have to fear him, Eden---"

"Don't you think I want to believe that, too? But look at what's happening now. Even when he's behind bars, he's found a way---"

"He hasn't."

"But all those reports on the TV---"

"Fake news."

"But the videos, the photos---"

"Deep fakes."

If there's one thing I know, it's that my husband is no liar. But I also find it so hard to believe that everything he's said is true.

It's just impossible for all of those things to be fake.

And even if they are---why?

What reason does he have to go to such lengths?

"I d-don't understand."

"My men have been watching your father's every move even when in prison. We knew of his plans to contact people he knew in my city even before he made the first call. We wanted him to think that he was getting his message delivered. If he thinks everything's going his way, he's more likely to slip, and maybe..."

"Maybe...what?"

"I'd somehow figure out what he has on you."

God, oh God.

A part of me wants to deny his words.

To just keep pretending that no such secret exists.

But the larger part of me is tired of all the unspoken lies.

My Lord is my helper, is He not?

And He said I shall not fear, did He not?

So isn't it time I stop being afraid?

My husband crouches down on one knee, and my tears spill down my cheeks.

I trust You, God.

I trust You.

No matter what.

Calixte reaches for my hands. "Talk to me, mon ange. You can trust me as well."

It's almost as if he's heard my prayer, and the thought makes me cry even harder.

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