Page 110 of The Devil's Pawn

White-hot fury rushes into my bloodstream. The only person who’s ending up in pieces? Will fucking Edgerton.

Schooling my expression to ensure I don’t scare my wife takes effort as I kiss her forehead. “Let’s get you home.”

She sighs and clings to me as though I’m a life raft and there are fifty-foot waves all around us. “How did you find me so fast? I left my phone with Vicky.”

I glower. “I’m aware.”

“It’s not her fault. I asked her to help me.”

“And she should have refused.”

“She’s my friend. She’s honor bound to help.” She giggles. I think it’s shock setting in. I don’t tell her that Victoria will be dealt with. She won’t make the mistake of putting my wife at risk again.

“Anything could have happened to you. Victoria knows she did the wrong thing.”

“Is she all right?”

Incredulous, I stare at her, my eyes wide. “Issheall right? Good God, Imogen.”

“Don’t be mad at her.”

“I’m mad at both of you.”

She cups my face. I close my eyes for a second and let the warmth of her palm soak into my skin.

“I’m sorry,” she says.

“I could have lost you.” My voice, all raw and husky,sounds nothing like me. I kiss her temple and lift her into my arms. Once she’s settled in the car, I close the door and turn to Nicholas. “It’s fucking Edgerton.”

Nicholas nods. “I saw.”

“Where is he?”

My brother jerks his chin at the boot. “Steven tossed him in good and hard.”

“Good. Let’s go home.”

I gently coax out of Imogen what happened, my rage barely contained as she talks me through it. Once she’s finished updating me on the last few terrifying hours of her life, and mine, she closes her eyes. On the journey back to Oakleigh, she dozes on and off, probably due to the shock and the remnants of ketamine that bastard injected her with.

When we finally arrive home, I lift her from the car and carry her up the stairs to our apartment. After laying her on top of the bedsheets and ordering her to stay put, I draw her a bath. Once it’s ready, I undress myself, then her, and we sink into the hot water.

She lets out a sigh and rests her head on my shoulder. “I really am sorry.”

I kiss her hair, balancing my emotions between wanting to spank her for being so fucking stupid and putting herself in danger, and kissing her until neither of us can breathe.

“I went to see Lilian.”

When Victoria confessed where she’d taken Imogen, I guessed she’d gone to visit Lilian, and why. She wanted answers Lilian would never have given her. Full marks for trying, though.

“What did Lilian say?”

“To talk to you. She wouldn’t share anything else, not that I expected her to, but just talking aloud to someone withwhom you’ve shared your secrets helped.” She twists to look at me, making waves in the water. “I need to know what happened, Alexander. Why you switched from being so loving at our picnic on Wednesday to asking me for a divorce three days later.”

A sinking feeling weighs heavily in my stomach. The moment of reckoning is coming when I have to tell her everything. But not now. Not when I’ve just got her back and have an overwhelming urge to care for her, to love her, to be with her.

“Can we put a pin in that until tomorrow? You’re exhausted, and so am I.”

She takes a few seconds to consider. “Okay, but tomorrow. No putting it off any longer. I want full disclosure.”

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