Page 179 of Kiss the Villain

Awife.

A dead wife, but awife.

And apparently, he’s richer than me.Wayricher.

Even I have heard the Davenport name. He’s one of them—the people who own the imports and exports sector on a national and international scale.

And he has a wife.

Had.

Their wedding video still plays in my head on a loop. The smiles. The happiness. The goddamnsoftlook in his eyes.

I scratched the screen with my fingers over and over again as if I could erase her, but I couldn’t.

And Ican’t.

Because she’s already dead, but she still lives inside him. No matter how much I scratched, I couldn’t remove her from his side.

So I wanted to removehimfrom my blood, which is why I cut the length of my forearm again.

And again.

And fuckingagain.

But he’s still there, beneath my skin, while she’s beneath his.

Because he’s made up a whole new life for her, and I’m here to hear where I fit into this fucking circus.

“While I’m sure your family story is to die for, I’m more interested in what you brought me here for.” I stare at Declan. “What do I have to do with the revenge?”

“Ye always this disrespectful, boy?”

“I’m being respectful now, believe me.”

“Ye bring a man to fucking England, of all places, ye have to be thankful I’m even talking to ye.”

“I’m so thankful, I’ll cry,” I say with a poker face. “But if you’re going to waste my time…”

I turn toward my car, my eyes blurring. The ground shifts beneath my feet as my vision crosses. I’m lightheaded.

Must be all the blood loss.

“Your grandfather was there.”

I let go of the handle and slowly face him. “Grandpa?”

“Alexander Carson, yes. He was present in Senator Baltimore’s house the night Caysie was raped and killed.”

I shake my head once. “He would’ve never done something like that.”

“Cause he’s so gentle and loving toward you?”

Because he thinks people like that are subhuman. He wouldn’t indulge in what he calls ‘barbaric’ acts, not after Harper.

“Well, he did, or he was there and covered for it, which is the same according to me and Davenport. We had a list of all the people who were there that night, and we slowly but surely took them out. Boat accidents, strokes, suspicious deaths on foreign soil. You name it. We tortured some of them, too. I thought we were done about a year ago, but apparently, Kayden has been digging deeper, and he confirmed that there was one more man who was wiped from the cameras, but a maid verified that she saw him. Yer dear granddaddy.”

He throws away the toothpick. “He must’ve covered his tracks as soon as the senator died. He’s smart and discreet, but Kayden is just that in love with Caysie, and he wasn’t satisfied with all the people we killed. He just needed more and more. He became obsessed and lifeless; only revenge kept him afloat. I like that about him, ye know. The undying love and unbreakable loyalty. I still hate that he hid Alexander—and you—from me.”

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