Page 129 of Prey for You

I knew Sam wanted to help me. And those other women. That was why I’d gotten so jealous. Because it wasn’t just me that he’d stalked, and stroked, and sexualized.

But I’d never let myself think aboutwhy.What if he wasn’t in love with me? Just driven by the need to bethat guy.What if this was howhisDominance was satisfied?

What if he had to be the most important. The healer. The after-carer.

But then he was good. Time to move on.

Had I trapped him into a lie?

Had he married me to save himself?

Was he scheming with my dad?

He’d been ready to walk out of my life like he did with everyone else. Now he was here, my husband, and—

“Bridget.”

I blinked and looked at Gerald sitting next to me, his expression deeply concerned.

“Talk to me,” he said quietly. “Tell me what you’re thinking. This is a lot.”

I stared at him. “I don’t know what to think,” I said honestly. “I don’t know what to believe.”

“Believe that that fucker has known your dad all along,” Jeremy growled.

Gerald glared at him. “We don’t know that.”

Jeremy’s brows rose. “You think he just decided to get to know the guynow?”

“If he was serious about a marriage… yes. It’s possible—”

“I told him,” I breathed. They both went quiet and looked at me. “Two days before that picture he told me he’d contacted people at the prison to find out if Dad was lying. I told him I didn’t even want him talking tothe staffabout my dad. I didn’t want… I didn’t want my dad to think I would contact him. I… I got really angry with him. I told him not to do it again, and he said he wouldn’t.”

I looked at Gerald whose forehead lines deepened. “That’s… well… Bridget if you drew a line and he crossed it—”

“This isn’t about fucking lines. This is about the fact that this dude is a fuckingpredatorand he’s had you fooled since this started!”

Everything in my heart told me Jeremy was wrong. That Sam hadneverbeen a predator with me.

But then my eyes fell on that picture again and… what could I say? He’d lied to me. Defied me. Done the opposite of what I’d told him I needed.

Even if he loved me, he wasclearlya liar.

Even if he wanted me, he wasclearlyin some kind of relationship with my dad that he’d hidden from me.

I had proof, like Jeremy said, that Sam knew my dad. And Iknewmy father was a manipulative, controlling, psycho.

So the only question left was, had this whole thing been a set up from the beginning? Or had Sam gone off the deep end when I got him arrested?

Was that why he’d never gotten angry with me? Because he knew he needed to keep me on his side to win this?

Was that why Sam had been so good to me? To keep me happy and on his side?

Had this all beenexactlythe set-up Jeremy had been trying to protect me from since day one?

How the hell was I going to find out?

I must have been saying the words, because Jeremy answered.

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