Page 54 of A Diamond for My Forbidden Bride

The words filled my head, I couldn’t stop them.

This was what I’d wanted all this time, yet...the only reason she’d said it was because I’d brought her here and forced her to deal with me. So...was it even real? If I’d sent her that email instead, met her for coffee like I’d told her that day in my office, would she have loved me then? Without me kidnapping her and manipulating her with our past? When it had just been me?

Of course she wouldn’t. Why would she want someone like you?

Her eyes were so clear, so beautiful. ‘Because it’s true, Val. I love you. I don’t think I ever stopped loving you.’

The cold spread inside me, deepening.

Psychopaths have no empathy. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. You’re the villain, remember? It’s not Constantine who’s exactly like him. It’s you.

The cold became ice.

I pushed myself away from her, my heart freezing solid.

‘Val?’

I got off the couch and took a couple of steps away from it, turning my back on her, trying to get myself together.

‘Val?’ Soft arms wound around me, her warmth against my back. ‘I’m sorry. Should I not have said that?’

I stared at the blue sky and the blue sea. It was beautiful, so warm, and yet all I could feel was the darkness inside me. The darkness that had always been there, that I’d done anything and everything to deny.

But I couldn’t escape it and I never would.

Constantine wasn’t the psychopath.

The psychopath was me.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Olivia

THEEXPRESSIONONVal’s face was like ice. I’d never seen him so cold. He looked almost exactly like Constantine.

I’d only wanted to give him what he needed, the love he was so obviously craving, because if ever a man needed love it was this one. But he’d acted as if I’d stabbed him and I didn’t know why.

I wasn’t going to take it back, though. I could pretend I hadn’t said it, retreat behind my armour, change the subject or walk away, but...I couldn’t do any of those things.

He was too important.

‘It’s true, you know,’ I said. ‘I love you. And I’m not sorry I said it.’

He moved out of my embrace, pacing a few feet away. ‘You shouldn’t.’ There was frost in his voice. He sounded just like his brother now, complete with that sexy accent. ‘Because I don’t think you quite understand what you’re dealing with.’

I quelled the urge to go to him again and wrap my arms around him. ‘What do you mean?’

His black eyes glittered strangely. ‘Psychopaths don’t care about other people. They have no empathy. Other people’s feelings don’t matter to them in the slightest.’

‘Domingo’s dead. He’s got nothing to—’

‘Is he dead?’ Val smiled all of a sudden, and it was a terrible smile. ‘Or is he still here? Is he standing right in front of you?’

I blinked, my mouth going dry. ‘Oh, Val, no. That’s not—’

‘I liked it. Did you know that?’ He said it almost conversationally. ‘I liked fighting with him. I liked challenging him. I enjoyed it. I liked the attention.’ He kept on smiling that bitter smile. ‘I wasn’t kind like Constantine. I didn’t cry about dead kittens and didn’t care about that bird. I just wanted to win.’ He met my gaze. ‘Like he did.’

‘No.’ I made the word hard, flat with denial, because I knew what he was going to say next. ‘You’re not like him. You’re not.’

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