Page 133 of Monsters Wear Crowns
But the closer I got to the mansion, the heavier the air seemed. My legs suddenly wanted me to return to the car instead of walking inside. Sighing, I adjusted my purse on my shoulder, ensuring my pistol was secured inside.
I felt it before I saw him.
The tension, the weight of something waiting to strike. I found him in his office, standing by the window, his back to me, his hands braced against the glass like he was trying to hold himselftogether. The muscles in his arms were taut, his whole body drawn tight. I swallowed hard.Fuck.
“Rafe?”
He didn’t turn. Didn’t move. But I saw his reflection in the glass, and my stomach twisted. His face was a mask of fury, his eyes dark and tumultuous.
“What happened?” I asked, stepping closer, but the words felt small against the pressure in the room.
He didn’t answer right away. And when he did, his voice was cold and razor-sharp. “That night when you went back to your apartment for the night, where else did you go?”
The question hit me like a slap. I opened and closed my mouth, fear suddenly closing around my throat.Oh, fuck.“Why?”
He finally turned then, and the look on his face made my blood run cold. “Are you fucking kidding me?” His cold tone sliced through the air, and I stared at him, my heart pounding.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
He didn’t say a word. Instead, he reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his phone, tapped the screen once, and tossed it onto the desk between us like it was something foul.
The video was already playing.
At first, I didn’t understand what I was looking at. The flicker of a grainy security feed. The cold, gray glow of a surveillance camera cast over a sleek modern house I recognized far too well.
Moreau’s.
And then–
Me.I felt the blood drain from my face.
There I was on the screen, walking up the front steps with him at my side. I could see how he leaned in, murmuring something in my ear. My head tilted instinctively, my mouth forming a reply. It was silent, but the memory hit me like a punch to the chest. I could hear it all in my head–what he said, what I didn’t stop immediately.
The screen glitched, flickering. There was a brief time-lapse. Then, the two of us reappeared, exiting the house. I watched myself again, clearly uncomfortable with him trailing too close behind me.
I swallowed hard. My pulse throbbed in my throat like a warning siren. I didn’t need to look to know Rafe’s eyes were on me. But I turned anyway. His gaze slid back to the screen, unmoving. Silent. A statue carved out of rage and restraint.
The silence pressed against my chest. It was worse than yelling or any threat. I wanted to speak, tell him the truth, andbeghim to listen, but my voice got caught between my lungs and my heart. Because Rafe wasn’t stupid.
He knew who Moreau was.He looked to be the angel to Rafe’s devil, even if both were evil as fuck. He also knewmeand what I liked, what I craved, what could tempt me. And the video didn’t show the moment I pulled away. It didn’t show the guilt, the disgust, the fear. It only showed what could look like…betrayal.
My legs felt weak.
“Rafe,” I whispered, finally forcing the word from my throat. “Let me explain–”
He turned so fast that I flinched. His eyes were fire and ice all at once, like he’d already seen the worst and was daring me to make it worse still.
“Explain?” His voice was raw.Unhinged.Like it had been dragged through glass. He gave a low, broken laugh that chilled me to the bone. “You want toexplainthis?” He grabbed the phone off the desk, thumbed it back a few seconds, then shoved the screen toward me like it was proof of a crime.
I couldn’t speak. Not fast enough. Not in the way he needed. And something inside himsnapped. Rafe’s hand flew out, and the phoneslammedinto the wall behind me with a violent crack, shattering on impact. I gasped, heart leaping into my throat, but it didn’t stop there. He was already moving–crossing the space between us like a hurricane.
“You let himtouchyou, didn’t you?” he roared, grabbing theedge of a smaller desk and flipping it with a crash that echoed through the room. The sound was deafening. Papers scattered. A glass hit the ground and exploded. “You let thatfucklay his hands on what’smine?”
I stumbled back, but there was nowhere to go. My spine hit the wall. My chest rose and fell in sharp, panicked breaths. He was in front of me now. Inches away.
“Rafe–” I whispered, but my voice broke.
His hand hit the wall beside my head, the sound cracking like a gunshot. His body closed mine in, and his breath was wild and entirely uncontrolled. The veins in his neck bulged. His pupils were blown wide, dark with fury.
