Page 119 of Betrayed in the Dark
Brick. By. Brick.
“A little over a year ago, you promised me you’d wait for me. Do you remember? It was the last time we saw each other before I left for Iraq.” My eyes drop to her pulse point, noting how it beats erratically. “And after losing my comrades and after being kidnapped and tortured, the only person I wanted to see was you.” I pause, letting my gaze drift back up to meet hers. “Just you.”
She looks away, shame spreading over her features. But I refuse to let her hide from me any longer, so I grip her chin, forcing her to face me.
“So, imagine my fucking surprise when I heard the news that Madeleine Alarie was engaged to Alastor Manacorda. I thought there was no way, not after everything that had happened between us. So, in disbelief, I took a flight straight here instead of to my own home. I made it all the way to your front door with my hand raised, ready to knock, but I stopped when I saw you through a window.” She rolls in her bottom lip, her eyes staring at the floor. “You reached your hand up to your hair.” I grab her left hand, bringing it between us. The gaudy ring on her finger mocks me as it shines brighter than ever. “And you were wearing another man’s goddamn ring on your finger!” I roar, my voice echoing across the room.
Silence fills the space between us, suffocating me.
I drop her hand as my breaths come out heavy and labored. I remember that moment as if it were yesterday. And all the anger I feel comes crashing down on me. “I have given you no reason to hate me, yet you have given me every reason in the goddamn world to feel that way about you, and still, I bloody can’t!”
Defiance flashes across her eyes as rage washes over her. “You’ve given me no reason to hate you?” she asks incredulously, gritting her teeth.
“None.” I lower my face, leaving only an inch of space between us. “You, love, are the one who betrayed me.”
Her shoulders rise and fall, and her hands clench into shaking fists at her sides. She looks ready to hit me again, and I’ll probably let her, knowing that whatever is happening between us right now is likely to reveal more than either of us can understand.
But I’m suddenly taken aback when a single tear crawls down her porcelain skin, her hard exterior melting.
I reach out, ready to wipe the tear from her face, but she shoves me away and moves around me. I turn, prepared to confront her again, only to find her reaching under her bed for something. Pulling out an old shoebox, I watch as she throws off the lid and digs through a pile of papers, tossing them to the floor until she finds what she’s looking for, holding it before her.
Her wild eyes lock onto mine, and I realize that whatever is about to happen will change everything between us.
Forever.
Her bare feet march over to me, and she doesn’t hesitate as she shoves the paper against my chest, her fingers trembling like leaves in the wind.
“You betrayed me!” she yells, her voice cracking. “When you wrote these words for me to read, you broke my fucking heart!”
My brows furrow as I grasp the paper and read what it says.
Four words.
One sentence.
And one signature—my signature.
The only problem is I have no idea what I’m looking at.
“What the hell is this?” I ask, lowering the paper so I can look at her face.
She scowls, shaking her head in frustration. “Don’t play dumb with me; it doesn’t suit you. You know exactly what that is. It’s the last goddamn letter you sent me after I told you I was pregnant.”
My world stops spinning.
The only sound I register is the thundering of my heart, pounding against my rib cage.
“It’s the last goddamn letter you sent me after I told you I was pregnant.”
“What?” I breathe, blinking violently as I try to clear my head. I must have misheard her. There’s no way she just said what I think she said.
She turns away from me, staring out the window. Her shoulders slump as she lets out a defeated sigh. It feels like an eternity, though it’s probably only a minute or two, before she quietly says, “Don’t worry. You got what you asked for.”
What I asked for?
What is she—
I glance down at the letter again, seeing those four words in an entirely new light.
