Page 23 of Bitter Secrets

“Was that part of your deal? You couldn’t step foot in the States while he was alive?”

If he wasn’t blinking, she would have doubted he was human. His face was completely expressionless, giving nothing away. She eyed his cup, which was never far from his mouth, and contemplated knocking the last of the coffee in his face. As if he could read her mind, he set the cup on the table. She was disappointed to see it was empty. Damn. She glared at him while he stared back, calm and completely at ease despite her interrogation.

She elbowed his abs. “Answer me.”

A small voice in the back of her mind warned her that she was violating her rules again, but her need for answers—anyanswers—made her reckless. She wanted to believe in the good in him like Sarai, but she couldn’t, not when there was so much evidence to the contrary.

When she shifted on his lap, he gripped her hips, but she wasn’t trying to get away. His eyes flared as she straddled him, grabbed two handfuls of his coat, and leaned in so close, she saw her silhouette in those black one-way mirrors of his.

“Give me something,” she ordered as she loomed over him.

His apathetic expression had shifted into something more animated, but she was too intent on her mission to catalog the change. She was supposed to be playing it cool, keeping it all in, but she felt like a flame, burning tall and bright. She couldn’t put it out.

“Roth.”

Her voice was half demand, half plea. She had let so many things slide. She never questioned their odd living arrangements when they were married, how he built his fortune, or if he ever loved her. There were too many unknowns. He had to give hersomething. She had proved herself by keeping their charade intact and convincing Lyle to back off. Her freaking life was in his hands. She had every reason to be suspicious, wary, and terrified, but she was trusting him to keep up his end of their pact. In return, surely, she deserved a crumb of confidence?

As seconds ticked past into a minute, her heart shriveled up in her chest. When would she learn her fucking lesson? This wasn’t a real marriage. It wasn’t even a partnership. He called the shots and she complied. There was no give and take. This is what she got for ignoring her rules.

She raised her head and stiffened when she saw Mo and Sarai facing her two rows over. Sarai had a hand over her gaping mouth while Mo perched on the edge of his seat, clearly ready to intervene if necessary. So much for playing loving newlyweds. She ducked her head, hair falling forward to conceal her face, as she started to scoot off Roth’s lap. He prevented her escape by wrapping his arms around her and drawing her flush against him.

“Let me go,” she said in a dead monotone.

He ignored her and slid his hand over her rigid back.

Her nails sank into the leather seat on either side of his head as she strained against the arm banded around her. “You want to keep your image intact? Let me go before I hurt you.”

“He didn’t ban me from the States.”

He spoke against the hollow of her throat, voice barely audible. She felt more than heard the words over the droning engine.

“He was a second-generation Hennessy with access to every powerful player in every major city in the country. It wasn’t worth fighting him on his turf when time was on my side.”

“You knew he was ill,” she whispered.

His hand did another pass up her spine.

“So you rushed back the moment the coast was clear.”

He lifted his head from her neck and looked up at her. He was disturbingly close. Instinctively, she tried to ease back, but the arm around her waist didn’t budge.

“I waited five years. I wasn’t going to waste any more time.”

“Waited five years to dowhat?” she snapped.

“You know.”

To begin tearing down Hennessy & Co. She gritted her teeth. “Were my sisters always part of your plan?”

“Yes.”

Her heart sank like a ten-pound weight to the pit of her stomach. So her sisters had always been his targets. If Colette hadn’t lost her shares in Hennessy & Co after some bad investments, Roth would have used some other misfortune… or created one. Either way, he always intended to make Colette and Ariana pay for their father’s sins.

“What about me? Was I always a part of your plan, or was I an afterthought?”

Her heart thudded in her ears as his eyes moved pensively over her.

“I had special plans for you.”

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