Page 46 of Possession

He takes my hand. “Fuck yeah, it’s a pleasure.”

I raise my voice a touch and call, “Spencer.”

The older man appears at the threshold to the dining room. “Sir?”

“Mrs. Torres and I are ready to get on with our evening. See Mr. Pritchett out.” I turn back to Logan. “Your weapon will be returned to you when our car leaves you at a different drop-off spot. You can call someone for a ride when you get there. The next time we meet, it’ll be because shit went south. No offense, but I hope to never see you again. I have a reputation to uphold, and yours doesn’t jive with mine.”

Logan looks around at the opulence surrounding us. “No offense, Torres, but you don’t jive with the club either.”

I turn to Spencer and motion to the door. We get one more chin lift from the club president who’s dancing near the top of the FBI’s most wanted list.

They can check him off soon right after they thank me for laying him at their feet. I’ve got so many balls in the air right now, if I drop one, they’ll all detonate the moment they hit the ground.

And I’m alone with my wife again, even though alone is a relative term.

I turn to Landyn who hasn’t relaxed since the mention of her father. “You okay?”

Unlike the last dinner we hosted, she barely sipped her wine all night. She’s stone-cold sober, alert, and soaking everything up like a sponge.

She shakes her head before shifting her icy blue eyes to me. Her gaze isn’t playful or challenging or even scared.

They’re guarded.

“Chica, what’s wrong?”

Her gaze darts around the room, but she doesn’t hesitate. “Are my parents really safe, or is all of this for nothing?”

I allow my hand to feel its way down her back to palm her hip and ass that’s encased in another dress that leaves nothing to the imagination. This one isn’t black—it’s stark white and reminds me of the moment I saw her for the first time wearing the wedding dress she wore when she married me.

Or the me she thinks she married.

I don’t worry about the cameras because this is known. “Baby, your father sold you to pay off his debt. Why are you worried about him?”

She tries to push away from me, but my hand on her ass holds tight. I can’t deny, I like it there.

She sighs and gives in. “I know this life, Boz. I grew up in it. People make promises all the time that they have no intention of keeping. I’m so angry at my father for putting me in this position. I hate him. I never knew I could hate someone this much. No one has literally put a gun to my head since the day we were taken from our home by Damian, but the figurative one that has been pointed at my skull ever since is very real. The longer I’m here, the longer I sit through meetings like this, and the more I learn, I know I’ll never get out. No one will allow it. But they’re still my parents, and my mom didn’t do anything wrong other than choose my father. So I need to know—are they safe or was that a lie?”

“You shouldn’t give a shit after what he did.”

“Do you have a family, Boz?” She fists my dress shirt and leans in closer. “The only thing I know about you is by day you play the part of a legitimate business man, but you’re not who everyone thinks you are—these meetings prove it. You don’t know me, just like I don’t know you. I can’t change who my parents are or what they’ve done. But I need to believe thatthis,” she stresses, “isn’t for nothing.”

Fuck.

Even if her meaning behind it is different, she doesn’t know how close to the fire she’s flying when it comes to me.

I decide not to feed her any bullshit and tell the truth, becausethis isn’t for nothinghas become my mantra for the last two years. There are times I have to chant that shit in my head over and over just to make it through another day.

As I try to figure out what to do or say to make her feel better without straight up lying, I realize her eyes aren’t guarded.

Not anymore.

They’re desperate.

I’ve been so busy trying to make sure I don’t drop any of the balls that are circling my head since the day of the wedding, for the first time, guilt washes over me.

I’m used to the life I’ve invented in order to survive.

She doesn’t know the difference between reality and lies.

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