Page 58 of Burning Your Lies

Wanting an excuse to feel her bare skin and lay next to her, I scoop her into my arms and carry her to the bed. I lay her down gently, enjoying the view as she spills out of her dress. “There you go.” My fingers brush over the despicable marks he left on her soft skin. Savannah is a rare diamond, not one that deserves these scratches to ruin her perfection.

She looks around the room and laughs. “Why is there a bedroom in this place?”

“It’s a wedding venue. The wedding party can book these rooms to get ready in.” Seeing her laid across a bed has my mind conjuring up indecent images of the two of us. The pads of my fingers run up and down her arm. “Sometimes the couple spend their wedding night here. I’ve heard the view is spectacular.”

The soft huskiness in my voice lulls her eyes closed. “What did you do on your wedding night?”

I trace her dress’s deep neckline. “I undressed my wife. I told her how beautiful she looked.”My god, Savannah is fucking perfection.“I kissed her shoulder as my fingers explored her body.” I lay my head next to hers and kiss her bare shoulder. “And then I fucked her.”

She turns her head and stares at me. “Slow or fast?”

I find it hard to breathe with the way she’s looking at me. It’s like we’re trapped in a bubble where the past doesn’t exist and there is nobody threatening our love. “Started slow.” I inch closer. “By the end, I was drenched in sweat.”

Her hand tenderly touches my face. She giggles as my facial hair tickles her palms. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Very much,” I whisper.

“Did you think she was your forever love?”

“I wanted …no.I needed her to be. But she failed me and our marriage.”

She turns away from me, closes her eyes and sighs. “Why couldn’t you be a good one? I wanted you so bad. We could have been so happy.” There’s a wistfulness in her voice that has me wishing I could erase my past.

I turn her face back towards me. “I’ll make it all go away. Let me show you how happy I can make you.”

“I can’t forget that you killed her,” she whispers. “When I close my eyes, I see her. I am paralysed by the betrayal in her eyes. How could you do that, Xavier? How could you kill your wife in cold blood?”

“It wasn’t cold blood. It was an act of passion. I love you so much, Savannah. I killed her because I wanted you.”

Her gaze is too heavy for me to bear. The raw honesty of our conversation has sobered her up enough to have pain written all over her. “That is exactly why I can never be happy with you.Being loved by you risks the lives of everyone else I love. The second you feel threatened by them, they’ll be gone. Just like Elliot.”

All I can think about it how much I want to kiss her. However, Savannah is adamant about convincing herself that I am no good for her. But all she needs is a reminder of all the evil I saved her from. “I protected you from him. He was a bloodsucking creature who only used you. He only ever brought trouble to your door. Killing him was the only way to stop the cycle.”

“I loved him. The cost of that was his life.”

Pushing her hair away, I study her face. “I won’t apologise for doing what I had to.”

She holds my hand. “Tell me how you did it. How did you kill him? Was he in pain?”

I’ve always known, not knowing has been killing her. It’s the one thing I’ve had over her head. It’s the bait that will keep her swimming around me. But in her drunken state, I know she won’t remember a thing. “I told him I’d pay his debt off. I gave him the bank details of the account I set up for him in Bali. I explained the terms and conditions of accepting the money. He didn’t even hesitate, Savannah. He signed so fast and it angered me. I swallowed my emotions and gave his plane tickets. Once I had evidence of him entering the airport, I called him and told him I forgot to give him something to access the Bali bank account. I promised to book him onto another flight for later that day. Fueled by greed, he met with me.”

She’s not blinking. Barely even breathing. “And then?”

“I strangled him. He fought hard if that makes you feel any better. He really tried to hard to live. His eyes were soaliveeven in his death. They were wide with fear. One of the last things he said wasI knew it. I told Savannah.And then he cried out for you. He cried like a little bitch, knowing he was going to die.”

Her chest rises and falls as my words hang in the air. When her eyes close, I worry that she’s fallen asleep. Her face is marked by a single tear. Just as I go to erase it, her eyes open and she’s sitting up. “Thank you. This has proven to be very useful.”

I lay frozen as she pushes me off her and climbs off the bed. She’s looking in the mirror and fixing her hair. Digging into her bag, she pulls her phone out and ends the voice recording.

Cold rage courses through me as she smirks down at me. I sit up and scowl. “You…” I can’t form another word.She played me like a fiddle.

“Did you really think I’d be such a messy drunk?” She tuts at me. “I have much more class than that. I honestly thought you would have seen through it when I said I wanted you. But you’re so desperate, it’spathetic.”

“I saw you drink,” I blurt out, still trying to make sense of how she fooled me.

Savannah rolls her eyes. “You saw me drink shots of water and juice. I kept wondering how I was ever going to find out about Elliot. And then the idea just popped into my head. Xavier Rivers has never seen me drunk before. I knew all I had to do was get you all alone and feeling like yousavedme again.” She waves her phone at me. “And now I have a recorded confession.”

“That won’t hold up in court,” I argue. “It won’t even be admissible.”

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