Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 114260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
“Just sort of jumped in there,” I mutter, then slide it back into my holster.
“He’s approaching your woman, you know he’s armed, and you know he fucking tried to hurt her. Of course you want to attack.”
“Right. I’ll kill him. But I’ll take my time.”
Violet turns when Armand puts his hand on her shoulder. My hand clenches into a fist.
I swallow when she smiles at him, even takes a step toward him. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was… flirting with him.
No.
God, no… would she?
“Good move, Vi,” Joe mutters, then zooms in with the camera we’ve secured to Violet’s lapel. “She’s smart, your woman.”
“Fucking stop calling her my woman.”
His brows shoot up infinitesimally, but he quickly trains his features. “Alrighty. Noted.”
“She’s smart, yeah.” I want to change this subject, now. “She’ll know exactly how to play this.”
“Shit.” Armand’s taken another step toward Violet. Violet retreats.
He pushes closer, physically intimidating her. My hand’s on the door.
“Boss, don’t. If you fuck this up, she’ll never forgive you, and she’s damn near there already. You do this, and you’re a fucking goner. There’s no coming back from fucking this up. Trust her.”
Trust her.
It’s the very same thing that I told her. Trust me.
Do I trust Violet? Do I have to trust that she’ll do what’s right and what’s best, no matter how deeply it hurts me?
I have no choice.
I can’t swoop in and save her.
I can’t fix this for her.
I have to let her go.
Do I love her enough to let her go? Do I respect her enough to let her do what’s right for her, even if it feels like this decision will kill me?
Can I?
“What are they fucking doing?”
“Looks like they’re just talking. Friendly, even,” Joe says, but he’s scowling, as if he’s seen something that makes him suspicious.
Armand says something to her. Violet stills, then draws her hand back and tucks it against her chest. Her face is drawn, and her eyes are wide. This could be it, when he tells her everything to destroy me, yet the power of the revelation’s lost its punch.
Violet shakes her head from side to side.
“Fucking audio,” I grate.
Joe smacks a button, and the sound of Violet’s beautiful voice fills the car.
“I can’t believe it,” she says, shaking her head from side to side. “This whole time, I’ve had no idea that Cain was following me.”
“I’m so sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” Armand says, the fucking liar. “But I think you deserve to know the truth.”
He’s been waiting for this, we all knew it. We knew he was holding onto this last card to play to get back at me and regain some sense of power. But he’s only a player, a pawn in this game of roulette where no one’s the victor.
“Thank you,” Violet says, her voice hollow. Either she’s a good actress, or she’s channeling the real hurt this revelation gave her. In either circumstance, it makes me feel like utter shit.
“Anytime.” Armand starts to walk away, but opens his mouth to say something. Then he closes it, as if thinking better of it. He turns away. She turns her back to him, her head down. This is where he’ll call the Castellanos, I know it.
Armand picks up his phone, taps a button, and the car I’m in with Joe explodes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Violet
I’m still reeling from processing all of this, but my senses are on alert, waiting for the attack from Armand’s family. If Skylar, Cain, and I are right, then he’s planned to manipulate me with this knowledge.
Or did he just come here to tattle on Cain? He did it like he’s feigning guilt…
I walk away, imagining I’m walking away from… everything. Everyone.
For months, he had me watch you. Stalk you. He has days and weeks’ worth of footage just watching you sleep. I had to monitor where you were, every time, and he never planned on telling you. Armand had a look of triumph in his eyes when he told me this, like he’d been holding the trump card and now is throwing it down on the table with a flourish. Ta-da!
Cain didn’t plan on telling me? No. No, that isn’t true, because Cain told me himself. Just because it wasn’t when I wanted him to…
He didn’t lie to me. He hid the truth from me, and one could argue that is the same as lying, but when I ask for the truth, he’s given me nothing but truth.
I had to learn to trust.
Would I have run if he’d told me the truth sooner? Hell yes.
Then as soon as I start mentally going there, I force myself to remember my anger, my frustration and outrage at him.
No. I can’t just forgive him for this.
What he did was wrong, so fucking wrong.
But isn’t that what it means to forgive someone?