Page 171 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

After all these years of marriage, I still didn’t know what my wife would do.

I rubbed my sweaty palms together and took Sage’s hand. “Let’s go take that bath.”

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Fifteen minutes later, we sat in a hot bath together. I relaxed in his lap while he gently grasped my hips. We stared at each other in silence for a few moments until he moved forward and kissed me.

Contractually, I should kiss him back. And while I wanted to comfort him, this didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to sleep with him while he was angry with his wife. I was annoyed with her, too, but this just felt so wrong. So disgusting. Like something Bethany would do.

“I don’t think we should,” I whispered, hands on his chest. “I want to, but it feels wrong.”

Constantino stopped, lifting his gaze to me and tightening his jaw slightly. After a moment, he slumped his shoulders forward and blew out a deep breath. “I know; it does.” He shifted in the tub, the water sloshing over the edge. “I just want to get my mind off her.”

“Let me actually give you a bath then,” I suggested, taking the loofah.

I smothered the loofah with soap, then deposited it back onto the shelf. When I rubbed the loofah against his shoulders, he blew out another breath.

Head lolling forward, he closed his eyes. I shifted in the tub so I sat behind him and continued to wash his body. We were doing things backward, but I didn’t care. I would wash his hair later. He needed to relax.

“You know you didn’t have to do that to Bethany for me,” I whispered.

“Yes, I did. And I’d do it again. She deserved it.” He paused. “I should’ve done it sooner.”

I swallowed hard because I wasn’t going to disagree with that. Bethany had deserved it. Still, I felt so wrong. So dirty. He didn’t have to do anything for me. It wasn’t in the contract to kick the shit out of Laila’s best friend.

None of this was in the contract, especially not the part about me washing him in the tub.

After I finished washing his body, I hung the loofah on the faucet and grabbed the bottle of shampoo. Suds fell down his body and into the warm water, creating small bubbles. I squeezed a dollop of shampoo into my hand and gently rubbed it into his thick brown hair.

“What happened anyway?” I asked, staring at the bruises he had all over his body.

I highly doubted that Bethany could do that much damage to him. These bruises were dark enough to have been done by a grown man.

“My brother is a dick,” he growled. “If it wasn’t for him, I would’ve killed her.”

“Killed her?”

“Pietro stopped me, so I kicked his ass too.” He suddenly tensed and snapped his head to the side. “Nobody is on my side. I do so fucking much for this family. I keep us out of prison, would kill every member of the FBI if I had to. And nobody appreciates a damn thing.”

“I’m sure they do,” I whispered, trying to comfort him.

“No, they don’t. I told my brother to watch Bethany this week, and instead, she sank her claws into him too, just like she had with my wife. She needs to go. Now. I can’t do shit around here with her.”

I wrapped my arms around him, my breasts pressed against his back, and lay back in the tub. I gently washed the suds and shampoo from his body and hair. I hadn’t been in this family long—barely a month—so I didn’t really have space to talk.

“Part of me just wants to let the FBI have them. They have no shit on me, but I have shit on them. I can send them all to jail, start this family over. Get my wife back …” He gulped. “And our fucking family back.”

Chewing on the inside of my lip, I continued to splash the water over his chest to get off the soap. Guilt washed over me when he continued on about their family. I should really tell him about my IUD. He wanted a family with Laila so badly, and here I was, knowing I’d attempted to pull out my IUD, only to find that I didn’t have one anymore.

“I have something to tell you,” I whispered, sitting back up and shifting in the tub so I sat in his lap. I draped my arms over his shoulders. “I, um … I know you and Laila wanna have a family together. I have no intention of getting in the middle of it …” My voice barely came out as a squeak. “But on our flight back to the US, I realized that … my IUD must have fallen out.”

Constantino tensed, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry. I should’ve told you the moment I found out.” I dropped my head. “I was actually looking to pull it out myself because I selfishly wanted Laila to choose us and not Bethany, but when I tried to pull it out, I couldn’t find it.” I winced. “Please don’t hate me.”

“Hate you?”

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