The door creaks open, and I snap my head forward. A man I haven’t seen before uses his arm to hold it in place, his body pressed against the woodgrain as if he’s expecting someone to come through it. The first thing I see are a pair of black, pointy-toe, high-heeled boots, followed by a set of long slender legs covered in dark-gray, wide-legged pants. My eyes bulge out when I see who stands in front of me.
“Aw. You look like shit, darling.” Serena steps forward, crossing her arms with a hard smile and her eyes subtly squinted. “Did my men give you a hard time?” she teases, looking down on me.
My body and mind go still, a knot forming in my stomach as the woman who’s caused such strife in my life mocks me. Thoughts fly around in my head so fast I don’t know how to make sense of them. Confusion rings loud, but no matter how hard I try to justify why she would be standing here, I come up short. The smug and arrogant stance upsets me, and my initial reaction to her being here shifts from shock to anger. I shoot up from my chair, fist balled tightly, prepared to defend myself. I may not have been able to take on Adrik and the other guy, but a woman can catch these hands.
“Why are you doing this?” I demand to know.
Serena drops her arms to her sides, pokes out her chest, and begins to pace a circle around me. “You know, I wasn’t surprised he ran to you. I kinda expected it actually.”
She pauses, and I turn my head to keep an eye on her.
“I mean, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, right?” She huffs.
“I didn’t ask—” I attempt to speak, but my chance is taken away.
“No! You didn’t. You just existed and made him fall in love with you.” She chuckles, continuing her walk. “Something I’ve clearly never been able to do. I was with him for nearly two years before he met you, and the entire time he fooled around with you. I figured I’d let him have his fun…”
I wrinkle my nose and press my lips tightly together, trying to wrap my mind around her words.
She sees my reaction and stops in her tracks. “What? Did you think I didn’t find out about you until last year?” When I don’t answer, she continues. “Oh, honey, I’ve known about you from the very moment he met you. Every little rendezvous, even your little arguments and the visits to your parents.”
“Then why didn’t you confront him sooner? I never would have—”
“I don’t blame you… What is it he calls you? Lotus. Unique little pet name, but cute. Anyways, when I—” she looks to the ceiling and shakes her head and shrugs nonchalantly. “—approached you last year, your reaction to me let me know you weren’t aware he was married. And I totally get how that could be. I’m not always around, being busy and all. Which is why I let it go on at first. He’s my husband and had needs, and I wasn’t always able to satisfy them. So I figured, what’s the harm in him getting his dick wet when I can’t be around? What I wasn’t expecting was he’d fall in love with you. That your little fling would cause such a rift in my marriage.”
“So, all of this, the men coming to my apartment, following us to Escape isn’t your father’s doing?” I furrow my brow, anticipating her response.
She frowns. “My father? What does he have to do with this?”
“Liam said Maxium found out he’s FBI.”
She roars with laughter. “Oh, sweetie! We knew that a long time ago. It’s why I’m married to him. By law, a person cannot be forced to testify against their spouse. But, of course, there’s that pesky bit about him not marrying me under his legal name. Now that, I didn’t find out about until about two years ago.”
I advert my eyes, preparing to say something but hesitate. Nothing she’s shared makes sense to me, and everything Liam told me this week blurs together.
“I can see I’m confusing you.” Serena tosses me a sympathetic smile. “I let my husband fuck you, because, well, I love him and wanted him to be happy while I ran the business. I married him because it’s useful to have an FBI agent in your pocket. I sadly thought I could get him to love me the way I do him, but I knew he couldn’t make a statement against me. A year ago, he tried to leave me, for you. He didn’t say that exactly, but I knew. So, I did what any scorned woman would do and got you out of the picture. And it worked for a while, but then he started to miss you and kept tabs on you. But so had I. I knew eventually he’d find his way to you. I can be a bitch, but I do love just as hard as the next woman. I let that cloud my judgement and practically begged him to love me back. Asked him what I could do to make him desire me like he did when we first met. He doesn’t know I know about his true career, so I couldn’t let that on.” She stops walking again. “Do you know this asshole walked out on me? Here I am naked, waiting, and pleading for my husband to fuck and love me. I mean, I’ve seen nude pictures of you, with your flawless brown skin, full thighs, and your ass… Girl! I’ve fucked a few women in my day, with him—believe it or not—so trust me, I understand why he wants you. But I have an amazing body, one that he didn’t particularly turn down before. So my ego was a bit crushed, and I might have reacted like a brat, having him shot and all.”
“Do you think this is funny?” I yell but don’t expect her to answer. “I’m listening to you, and it just makes me sick how little remorse you have. You’ve toyed with my life like I’m some spanking new doll for you to play with. You send men to my house to what, kill me because you were worried he’d fuck me when he showed up? I knew you were a brat, and I honestly hated myself when I found out he was married. I hated him and nearly let him die on my doorstep. Then to find out this has nothing to do with your father and his crimes, but because you had your fucking feelings hurt…” I glare at her, digging my nails into my palms so hard pain trails up my wrist.
“Sit down,” she adds calmly.
I ignore her request. “He showed up because you shot him, you idiot. Wasn’t even headed in the direction of Duluth. So you must feel mighty stupid to know you’re the reason he ended up back with me.”
“SIT DOWN.”
“No!”
Serena smacks me, the sound of her hand against my flesh radiating through the room. My blood boils over, and my shoulders tighten as I draw back and punch her across her jaw. I wait for her to strike again, but she doesn’t. Instead, we stand here glaring at one another.
“You’re alive right now because I want you to be. But don’t for a second think I won’t kill you. If Liam hadn’t gone back for you, you would be.”
Shuffling in the distance interrupts our stare down, compelling Serena to step backwards and peek out into the hall. “Двигаться.” Move, a man barks before Liam comes stumbling into the room. My eyes widen when they meet his, and all the toughness I reserved for Serena melts away. He wraps me in his arms, shifting his gaze over my body for signs that I’ve been harmed.
“Step away from her,” Serena yells.
Liam turns, positioning me behind him using his body as a shield. I grip his shirt and peer over his right shoulder at her. For the first time tonight I see it, the hurt and pain in her eyes as she watches the affection he has for me. During her spiel, I wasn’t convinced she loved him like she claims, but in some sick, twisted way she does.