Page 129 of Covenant

Matthias must have some painkillers in here somewhere. I could go to the kitchen, but then I might have to face Jules or Jackson. Maybe even Harley, given how often he likes to linger around our resident chef.

The last thing I want to do right now is speak to anyone other than my husband.

Going over to his desk, I search the tabletop for medicine with no luck. I eye his drawers warily. It feels like I’m stepping over a line if I open them, but surely he won’t mind, right? We’re husbands.

Fake, supposedly. But after tonight…it feels more real than ever before.

The headache pulses again, pain hitting me right behind the eyes and making the decision for me. I go through the drawers on the left with no luck. The top drawer on the right yields no results either. But in the bottom one, there’s a distinctive pill bottle at the back.

“Thank fuck,” I mutter, reaching in to grab it. As I do so, my knuckles catch on something on the top of the drawer. It’s a piece of paper or something. Whatever it is, it’s in my way. I frown and yank it out so I can get to the bottle.

And then everything stops.

Because I know this writing.

It’s mine.

Nausea bubbles up as my eyes race over the script. I don’t know why I bother. I know what this is. What it says. When I wrote it and why.

The only thing I don’t know is why it’s hidden in my husband’s desk.

The door swings open and Matthias steps back inside. “Okay, I’ve got Wylder off my back and I’ve made him swear never to call you ag?—”

His words cut off abruptly as he spots what I’m holding. He freezes, going completely ashen.

It’d be comical if my heart wasn’t currently shredding itself to pieces inside my chest. I feel like I’m breaking apart. Like those carefully sewn threads I meticulously stitched into my heart all those years ago are slowly disintegrating, one by one.

“What is this?” I whisper hoarsely. “Why do you have this?”

He doesn’t answer me. His lips move, but no sound comes out. Or maybe it does. Maybe I just can’t hear him over the fracture that’s forming between us.

I come around the desk slowly, the paper crumpling in my hand. “Matthias, why do you have the fucking letter I wrote to The Firm?”

He finally finds his voice. “I can explain?—”

“No,” I say quietly. The pieces are falling into place, building a picture I’m not sure Matthias can explain away. “There’s only one reason you’d have this.”

I come to a stop inches away from him, but I’ve never felt more distance between us. “You lied to me. You told me you don’t work for The Firm.”

“No,” he says urgently. “I didn’t lie to you. We don’t work for The Firm.” He runs a hand through his hair, tugging on it in the anxious way he does. “The BuckinghamsareThe Firm.”

I shove the piece of paper against his chest as venom fires through me. “That’s the same fucking thing, Matthias. Thesame thing.”

“Listen to me,” he repeats desperately. “Please, Wy…”

More pieces fall into place and it’s like a knife to my gut. “You don’t owe The Firm anything. You don’t have an inheritance due.”

He can’t look at me. He inhales deeply. Exhales.

And shakes his head.

“You set this whole thing up,” I whisper as another emotion rushes to replace the anger.Heartbreak.“Please. Tell me you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t manipulate this whole situation to get back into my life.”

He’s silent, and I want to shake him. So I do. I grab his shoulders, and he makes no move to stop me.

“Tell me,” I roar, blinking away the heat burning in my eyes. “Tell me, damnit! Tell me this wasn’t a setup from the start. Please, Matt. Baby, please. I love you. Please tell me you didn’t do this.”

I’m begging him. I thought we’d been in this together from the start. The two of us making the most of a situation we’d been forced into by this big, bad entity that saved us and manipulated us at the same time.

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