Page 13 of Rectify

She hadn’t thought that through. Now she was alone with Aedan. Something she’d both dreamed about and feared for years.

Natalya clutched her icy hands together nervously. “You’re looking well, Aedan.” She winced at the inane comment. Of all the things she could have said . . . should have said

I’m sorry. Forgive me. I was an idiot.

And she went with ‘you’re looking well’?

“You’re not,” he countered bluntly, looking her over. “Is your sugar daddy not looking after you properly?”

“Sugar daddy?” she asked with a frown.

“Isn’t that why you left me? You got a better offer?”

“No.” She kept her voice calm, determined not to let him get to her. He had every reason to be mad. “That’s not what happened at all.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Really? What did happen? Did your better offer fall through? Did they find out that you were used goods?”

Natalya gasped, her control stretching. “How dare you!”

She couldn’t believe he was talking to her like this.

“Why are you acting so outraged? You went straight from my bed to his. What I don’t understand is how you could be with that murdering, thieving bastard, and yet you always treated Rogan like he was shit on your shoe. How many times did you refuse to be around him because you didn’t want to sully yourself by eating with a criminal? And yet, you leave me to go fuck some of the worst scum in Mexico?”

Natalya gaped at him. Aedan never lost his temper. Ever.

“You know nothing about my life,” she whispered harshly. “You have no idea what I’ve been through.”

“Oh, it’s worse than that, sweetheart,” he told her harshly. “I don’t care.”

Natalya sat back as though she’d been slapped. This wasn’t the man she’d known. The same man who’d held her all night while she’d wept after her mother had died or sent her flowers just because he wanted to see her smile.

He was acerbic. Mean. Callous.

Had she turned him into this?

Natalya placed a hand on her stomach. This man wasn’therAedan. She didn’t recognize him. This wasn’t the man she could count on to help her just because he was a good person.

“This was a terrible idea,” she muttered to herself.

“Yes, it was,” Aedan replied. “So why don’t you head back to your lover and never return?”

She’d expected those words, anticipated them, dreaded them. But the punch of pain far outweighed anything she could have imagined.

“How did you know about Diego?” she asked hoarsely. She’d never told him. “Did you check up on me?”

“After you left that message telling me you weren’t coming back, I actually thought that you might be in trouble. That you might need me and were trying to protect me. Rogan sent someone to check up on you. Turns out you were great. How soon did you fall into bed with him, Natalya? As soon as you arrived? Or was it planned before you even left?”

“Of course not!” She was stunned that he would even think that. “Aedan, you don’t understand. I . . .”

She bit down on her lip as the door opened, and Rogan came in carrying a large tray with a carafe of coffee, three cups, and a plate piled high with rich chocolate brownies.

“The last of Tilly’s baking.” Rogan placed the tray down on the coffee table. “I had to hide this lot just to make them last this long.”

Natalya watched as he poured out the coffee. “Tilly? Is that your wife?”

Rogan’s eyes were cool but not unkind as he studied her. “No, a friend. I’m not married. Neither is Aedan.”

She knew Aedan wasn’t married. She read the tabloids. It was self-punishment, watching him with one stunning woman after another on his arm. But so far, none of them had seemed to last.

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