Page 111 of Devil Mine

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Tess doesn’t open her eyes again until we’re back home. I brush Diana away when she runs up to me, face worried, and take my wife up to the master bathroom instead.

“What happened?” Tess asks, coming to.

I’m relieved to see most of the color is back in her cheeks. She rubs at her eyes as I set her on the counter next to the large marble sink. She looks around with an intrigued look on her face.

“Is this your bathroom?”

“Our bathroom,” I correct, holding her by the hip to make sure she doesn’t topple over. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine, I–” A confused look furrows her brow, her eyes scanning side to side as if searching her memory. “I can’t remember what happened, did I faint?”

I grab her ankles and turn her so she faces the sink, her shoulder resting against the bathroom mirror. “You did.”

“Wh–”

With a guarded look, I watch as realization crosses her features. She replays the moments leading up to her fainting spell, her eyes widening. I expect her expression to turn to one of fear or disgust, for her to pull away again, but instead it’s dismay that appears next.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, looking down.

My back tenses. “What for?”

I hate the way she won’t meet my eye.

“I thought I could handle it, but I couldn’t.”

Her tone cleaves at my chest. I cup her face and force her to look at me. She tilts her cheek into my touch, looking up at me with soft eyes. Eyes that hold the depths of the entire ocean in them, ones whose gaze slithers beneath my skin and burrows deep into my bones.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I answer quietly. “Was it the blood? Or because I killed him?”

Turning the sink on, I test the temperature of the water with my finger until it’s warm, waiting for her reply.

“No, not that. He…” she trails off when I take her ankles and place her feet in the sink, under the hot jet of water. “He scared me,” she admits, her tone embarrassed. “The things he said he’d do to me.”

My eyes close, my hands tightening stiffly on her. In a heartbeat, I’m back there, standing in front of Leone, all the blood in my body freezing in place as he threatens Tess. Hearing that he scared her so much she fainted makes me want to discover the cure for bringing a man back to life just so I can kill him again. Slower this time.

Breathing out a steadying exhale through my nose, I reach for the soap and pump some into my hand.

“I’ll never let anything happen to you. I promise.”

She wraps a hand around my elbow, pulling my attention to her. “And you keep your promises.”

My eyes flick up to hers before I smirk and answer. “Always.”

Her gaze turns thoughtful, her fingers digging into my flesh. “I’m sorry you had to kill him.”

“I’m not,” I reply through gnashed teeth.

She shakes her head. “I’m not sorry he’s dead. I’m sorry that he won’t be able to tell you where Adriana’s body is. I never meant for that to happen.”

Grabbing the top of her foot, I lather it with soap until thick suds fall off her skin. I do so for long seconds, getting lost in the motions of washing her.

Eventually, I say. “I’ll find another way.”

My hands move to her other foot, repeating the same process I did with the first.

“What are you doing?”

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