Page 29 of Merciless Sinner

I search his eyes, then glance briefly at the door as if I’m looking for someone. “But am I safe?”

Seamus catches my meaning, silently understanding I could only be looking for Virgo.

“You can trust me. And as far as I know, Virgo hasn’t given me any reason to distrust him, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t follow your gut.”

I appreciate his honesty. It enables me to drop my guard a little. “It’s hard to know for certain what part of my fears is my gut and what part is paranoia.”

“Listen to all of it and make the decision based on what feels right to you.” Seamus nods with conviction, as if backing up his words of wisdom. “Is there anything pressing you want to talk about before I go?”

There are million pressing things, but I suppose there is one main worry.

“The wedding,” I confess, garnering a deep look of sympathy from him. “I don’t know when it’s going to be, but it will be soon. I’ve gone from not knowing where I came from to… being someone’s fiancée.”

“Your worries are completely understandable.”

“Did… Virgo tell you how the idea of this wedding came to be?” I assumed Seamus must know. He seems too cool about the wedding not to know the facts behind it.

He nods, studying the bruises I still have from Petr’s gun and fist. “Virgo told me what I needed to know.”

Embarrassment grips me when I think of the trouble I landed myself in. “Then you know that I owe him.”

“Yes, I understand that, too.” He nods again.

Sure enough, Virgo kept his word. I practically walked out of my jail cell moments after I struck the deal with him. Within the hour, he paid all my debts, and by midday the following day, I was boarding his private jet and heading back to New York. Me and my one suitcase containing the few things I hold special. As nothing else in my dinky apartment was worth taking, I left it all behind.

“The biggest thing about this wedding that worries me is Virgo’s family. Has he spoken to you about them?” There’s a caution in his voice that piques my senses.

“Yes. I’m aware of the situation with them.” And that we apparently saw each other in secret when we were together.

Virgo told me everything about the feud between his family and mine. He told me it began with the diamond mining company my father left me. With that in mind, he said our marriage would end the feud, but he never really spoke about the actual benefit marrying me would bring him. I don’t think it’s down to his desire to end the feud or be associated with the billions in assets that will be released to me once we’re married. My understanding is that the Antonovs are worth even more than my family’s net worth and Virgo has his own empire outside his family’s oil company.

He told me about the nightclubs he owns with his friend, Dante. The guy who traveled back with us from Monte Carlo—another person I know and can’t remember.

It's only left for me to think that the benefit in this marriage for him is me.

But like everything else, that’s a difficult concept for me to wrap my head around.

Seamus drags in a haggard breath. “It’s a tricky situation.”

“It sounds that way. The last thing I want to do is marry into a family that hates me. Did you know I was seeing Virgo before I went missing?”

He nods slowly. “You told me. I was the only person who knew for a long, long time.”

A sense of warmth settles over me at the knowledge that I would trust him in such a way. “How long was long?”

“You were sixteen.”

My mouth drops open. “That’s almost over ten years ago.” Seamus confirmed my date of birth and age, and I’m actually almost twenty-six. My real birthday is two months from now. Virgo is five years older than me, so that means we got together when he was twenty-one.

Was that when I lost my virginity to him? Or did we wait until I was legal?

Given his ruthless nature, I doubt the latter. But what was I like?

“I suspect Amelia would have known before me. She’s your best friend, so I assume she would have known all your secrets well before anyone else.” Seamus smiles.

“I guess so.”

Amelia is the other person Seamus told me about. My best friend. A lifelong friend who was as close to me as a sister. Not remembering people who had so much significance in my life feels odd.

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