Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 236(@300wpm)
“No, Lyam,” I say. He stands with me, facing me, towering over me. I know that look he gets when he’s made up his mind about something, and I should really take heed of that look, but I’m pushing forward.
Your refusal to obey me intrigues me.
Does it, still?
“I won’t let you do this,” I say, shaking my head. Our baby is worth me fighting for this, but even as I protest, I feel the gnawing suspicion I had from the beginning clawing at me. If I force him to stay with me, is he really staying at all?
His phone rings. A muscle twitches in his jaw, and his eyes narrow on me. It rings again, the blaring sound like the clang of a doomsday gong. It could be important, each of us knows that, but we both stare at the phone as if it’s a viper ready to bite.
“I fucking hate technology,” he growls. “Fucking hate it.”
When he lifts the phone, I fear he’s going to throw it through a window, but there’s too much going on right now for him to have the luxury of going dark.
“Take it,” I whisper. “You have to.”
We stare at each other.
“It’s Thayer’s ringer.”
“Fucking Thayer,” I mutter. “Does he wipe his ass without telling you?”
A corner of his lips quirks up and my heart thumps with a flicker of hope.
“What?” he snaps into the phone, his eyes on me.
I watch the flare of surprise.
His parted mouth.
The heartbreaking shutter of his gaze on mine.
I watch as, one by one, the dominoes fall.
He shakes his head. “Montague?”
Noooo.
No, not now. Not this way—
He places the phone on the table and hits speaker.
“Say it again, Thayer. Tell me what you just said, loud and clear for both of us to hear.”
The tone of Lyam’s voice tells me everything I need to know before Thayer speaks another word.
“Cosette, are you there?” Thayer’s harsh voice makes me flinch.
I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. I will myself to push through this, to tell them, to explain everything.
I manage a shaky, “Yes, I’m here.”
“Tell him, why don’t you?”
“I was going to,” I say in a whisper, but even I feel my words lack authenticity now. They took me into custody for betrayal, and now I know I’ve only confirmed their suspicions.
“François Montague is my father.”
FIFTEEN
Lyam
I thought I couldn’t protect her.
I thought that being with me meant that she wasn’t safe anymore.
I never dreamed she would betray us. Again.
I hang up the phone and shake my head, staring at her.
Disbelieving.
“You plotted against us,” I say, disbelieving the words as they come out of my mouth. “You actually did betray us.”
I think back on the day I took her into custody, the way I buckled her in the car and brought her back here with the intent to punish her for what she’d done.
I wanted to believe she was innocent, but deep down I knew she wasn’t.
When she told me her reasoning, I believed her. I let myself believe that we could make this work, that she’d have my baby and we’d marry each other and Cosette would be mine forever.
And now I know, she was never mine to begin with.
Who even is she?
“Lyam,” she says tearfully. “You have to believe me. He doesn’t even know who I am. We have no relationship. I hate Paris because of him. He had me with my mother when he was already married and in the public eye, so he never made it known to anyone.”
She goes on and on, but why wouldn’t she? I can’t even process the words she’s saying. Cosette knows who I am. She knows who my family is. She knows we would have killed her once for betraying us and now she’s left us no other choice.
But she’s pregnant with my child.
“If you’re innocent,” I say, interrupting her pleas. She reaches for me, and I push her away. If she were anyone else—I shake my head and draw in a breath, making myself stay calm despite the anger that rises in me like a tide.
Only the weak need to hurt the vulnerable.
“If you didn’t know him and have no affiliation with him whatsoever, then why didn’t you tell me? You knew there were politicians threatening us. You even knew Montague was involved. You had a hundred chances to tell me and yet you didn’t. So why should I believe you now?”
“Because you know I love you,” she says tearfully. “Because I wouldn’t betray you. I was going to tell you so many times but every time, I was afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
It looks as if the very words she speaks pain her to say them. “Afraid that if I told you, you’d leave. That you wouldn’t want me. That you wouldn’t believe the truth.”
“I changed my mind,” I say. She flinches at the harsh sound of my tone, but I’m doing everything I can not to hurt her. She betrayed me. Betrayed all of us. My only choice now is to give her a safe space so she can have our baby safely before she faces the ultimate punishment.