Page 28 of Rectify

“Ahh, so I was a last resort. You had no one else to turn to. Am I right?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

He let out a bark of laughter that was anything but humorous. Turning, he stared off into the distance.

“I really am sorry, Aedan,” she told him. “I know it’s too little too late. But I thought you would be better off without me and my problems.”

He turned and stalked toward her, a predatory glint in his eyes. He looked slightly wild, untamed, and intimidating.

She moved away from him until her back hit a wall.

“Aedan, what are you doing?” she asked, trying and failing to sound assertive.

“Is that it, Natalya? You wanted a bad boy?” He stared at her hungrily and her body immediately reacted to his closeness. Her nipples tightened. Her pussy clenched, remembering the feel of him inside her, filling her, taking her.

But there was also a hint of anger in his gaze.

“Was I not nasty enough for you? Did you get sick of being with someone who treated you well? Who worshipped the ground you walked on? Did you want someone to treat you likedirt? To fuck you, then cheat on you? Is that what you wanted, Natalya?”

“No!” she cried out. “Do you seriously think I wanted him? Do you really think I’m turned on by someone who hurts others?”

He suddenly leaned in toward her, bracing his hands on the wall on either side of her head. Flinching, she jumped back, banging her head on the wall behind her.

Aedan paled. He took some hasty steps back, holding his hands out in front of him. “You’re scared of me? Natalya, I might be furious with you, but I’d never hurt you.”

“I know,” she reassured him, horrified that he thought that. “I’m not afraid of you. You just gave me a fright when you lurched so suddenly.”

“Did he hurt you? Jesus Christ.” The horror in his gaze was clear to see. “Natalya, did he rape you?”

“No.” She shook her head. “No, I told you before, he never hit me or raped me.” He’d just been aloof. Distant. Cold. Something she’d actually been grateful for.

“But you slept with him,” he said bitterly.

Natalya held back from snapping back at him. He had every right to be bitter and mad. She’d betrayed him. Left him without an explanation and moved in with another man. If the tables were turned, she’d be murderous.

“I saw photos of you with him. Kissing him.”

“Photos?”

“The man Rogan sent to check on you took them.”

God, those photos must have hurt him. A part of her had died each time she’d seem him in the tabloids with a different woman on his arm.

“He was different when we were in public. Almost like he was laying a claim, like he wanted everyone to know who I belonged to. It was a total act. When we were alone, he rarely touchedme. At first, I wondered whether he was gay and using me as a smokescreen, so the cartel didn’t find out. But then I found out about all the women he’d had.”

“But wasn’t that his payment for waiving your brother’s debt? That you’d fuck him?”

She winced at his blunt words. Though, essentially, they were true. She’d gone to live with Diego, expecting he would demand that she have sex with him as payment. Basically, she’d whored herself out to save her family. The shame had nearly destroyed her. If it hadn’t been for Mateo, she wasn’t sure she would have kept her sanity.

“The first week I was there, I tiptoed around him. I was terrified that, at any moment, he was going to order me to sleep with him. I was miserable. I wanted to run back to you, but I’d made my bed and I had to lie in it. I often dreamed of calling you. But as I said, Nana couldn’t be moved, and Río had taken off. I had to keep her safe. She lived far longer than we all thought she would. It was the night of her funeral that I . . . that we . . . ”

She took a deep breath. “I think I was just lonely and sick of being sad. You were making your movie. I figured you would move on. It’s what I had both hoped for and dreaded.” She sent him a sad smile. “It was the first time he’d really touched me. He hugged me, and well, one thing led to another.”

“You mean you fucked him? Voluntarily?” The disgust in his voice fueled her temper.

“Just like you fucked all those supermodels and actresses I’ve seen you with. You’ve hardly been a monk, Aedan.”

“Youleftme!” he yelled.

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