Page 37 of Sunrise Malice

“What happened last night?” I blurt out. “You came back and you looked like you wanted to kill someone.”

He hesitates before leaning against the back of the couch. “The less you know, the better.”

“Oh, great, we’re going to have one of those relationships.”

“You really want me to update you about my business? You want to know about the war? You want to know the names of all the dead men?”

I sit back and shake my head. “No, of course not, but I was just trying to have a conversation with you.”

His shoulders are tense as he turns away again. “It’s better if you stay as far away from all that as you can. Trust me.”

I watch him walk back out to the terrace and sit back down at the table. He’s talking to himself, cursing in French, if I had to guess, and jabs at his phone like he wants to break the glass with his finger. I gather up my stuff, drop it in the kitchen, before retreating back into my bedroom.

I’m not sure what that was back there, if he was trying to protect me, or if he’s just always an asshole. Something bad happened last night and it’s really bothering him, and if he doesn’t want to talk about it, he doesn’t have to.

But a part of me wants him to open up.

I’m not as delicate as he probably thinks. I lived in a crime family my whole life—I know how stressful it can be for a man like Julien, especially at a time like this.

And I’m his wife, whether I like it or not. That doesn’t mean I have to act like his submissive little pillow princess, but at least I can listen to the guy’s problems.

Since there’s not much to do in my room, I end up calling Kim. She answers and is extremely excited to hear from me. “Oh my god, are you seriously living at your husband’s place now?”

“I’m seriously living at his place.”

She cackles with delight. “I hear your dad’s not doing too good.”

“Julien and Dad had a disagreement, but that’s over now.”

“Holy. Shit.” She lets out a long breath. “He’s kind of scary, right?”

“He’s definitely scary,” I agree, thinking back to the look on Julien’s face when he realized my father had been abusing me. He wanted to murder Dad, and he would have if I hadn’t stopped him. A strange warmth floods through me at the thought of Julien killing for me, which is definitely fucked up, but I can’t help it.

“And kind of hot too,” she says, and I can practically see the big grin on her face.

“Uh, I’m sorry, but don’t you hate him?”

“Water under the bridge. You guys are hitched now, right? I might as well make the best of it.”

“That makes one of us.”

“Come on, you’re married to a rich and powerful French gangster, and he happens to be built like a fucking God. Aren’t you curious?”

I should know better than to ask, but I ask anyway. “Curious about what?”

“What it’s like to fuck him, obviously.”

I squeeze my eyes shut and sigh. “No, Kim, I’m not curious.”

“You’re so full of shit. Look, you’re stuck with the guy, right? You might as well, you know, experiment.”

“You sound like him now.”

She sucks in a breath. “He said that to you?”

Ah, crap, I shouldn’t have told her that. But now that I said it, she’ll never let it go unless I give her the full context. “He wants me to be faithful to him, and I want him to be faithful to me.You know, so nobody’s embarrassed? And he said since we’re doing the monogamy thing, we might as well enjoy some of the benefits.”

She cackles with wicked excitement. “You dirty whore.”

---