Page 12 of Bitter Secrets

“Why not?”

She gave him a long look before she said, “After what happened, I think we should keep them out of it.”

He jerked his chin at the photos. “Don’t worry about that. Choose the shot you want featured.”

Her hand tightened around her glass. “Lyle’s not going to go along with this.”

“He will.”

His easy dismissal of Lyle pissed her off. “You think you can control him?”

“No.”

“Then why are you so certain he won’t say something to the press, ruining your image that we’re one big, happy family?”

“I’ll leave that up to you.” When she stared at him, he toasted her. “Maximus would be proud.”

It took her less than ten seconds to put it together. She had the sensation of falling and grabbed onto the island for support.

“You…” There was excruciating pressure on her chest, which made it hard to breathe. “You tapped my phone?”

“It’s for your own good.”

“You son of a bitch!” She slammed her glass down and shot to her feet. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m your husband,” he said in a placid tone that made her vision flash red. “And I needed to know where you stand. Now, I do.”

“You can’t do that, Roth!”

“You called me Jamie a second ago.”

She jabbed her finger at him.“Don’t.”

It had been a slip of the tongue. He knew she called him by his nickname when her defenses were down and she retreated into the past.

“What if I hadn’t lied?” she demanded. “What if I didn’t cover for you?”

“Then I would have reacted accordingly.”

He watched her with such unruffled cool that she wanted to scream. Of course, he was monitoring her. How else would he know if she was keeping up her end of the deal? As always, he was ten steps ahead while she was playing catch up. She should have figured that out, but she had so much to worry about, she couldn’t think straight. It wasn’t a coincidence that he showed up less than thirty minutes after she hung up with Lyle. Had he kept his distance to see what she would do? Spill her guts to someone or run? She did neither, and the fact that it played out in his favor pissed her the fuck off.

The ink in her notebook wasn’t even dry, and her emotions were spiraling out of control. How could she put on a calm facade when he was using her as a human guinea pig? He was testing her loyalty when hers had never been in question. Any sane woman would have run, but not her. Roth lacked empathy, but he had an uncanny knack of accurately predicting other’s behavior. He knew she would sacrifice herself to keep the family business and suspected she would keep their story intact even after her father’s blackmail bombshell. He knew her better than she knew herself, which was grossly unfair since she didn’t know him at all.

“Fuck you,” she spat.

He didn’t bat an eye. “Choose, Jasmine,” he said, nodding toward the photos.

“It doesn’t matter. They’re all a lie anyway,” she said as she drained her glass.

Everyone would gobble up those photos and buy their star-crossed lovers story. Hook, line, and sinker. There would be gossip about how he was now the majority shareholder of Hennessy & Co, but that would be swept aside once these pictures were plastered in newspapers and magazines. Even the most jaded wanted to believe in a happily ever after. She would look like a fool when he divorced her next year.

“What do you want for dinner?” he asked as he scooped up the pictures and put them back in the envelope.

He fucked her brains out and lounged with her in a scented bath, but he never wavered from his objective. He was a master at mixing business and pleasure.

“You’re an asshole!”

He showed no reaction to the insult. “I’m thinking chicken.”

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