Page 191 of Sin Like the Devil

Only then… can I begin to forgive myself.

Elliot stretches his shoulders, chatting quietly to his cameraman. Taking another sip of water, I glance at Hudson who’s taking a hushed phone call. He acts like he isn’t studying me from the corner of his eye.

“You think I’m done?” I watch Elliot rise.

He startles, looking up at me. “Uh, I just assumed?—”

Bitter laughter escapes me.

“That was only the beginning of the story.”

“Would you like to continue?” Elliot asks, eyes wide with surprise.

“Well, I’m still here.”

With a slow nod, he settles back in his seat. Hudson finishes his phone call then waves to grab my attention. He mouths an apology, stepping outside to let someone else in.

It’s almost like he planned it.

Scheming bastard.

Warner takes his place, briefly clasping his arm as they cross paths. Over the last ten years, his dark hair has become peppered with silver. It looks good on him. Glancing around the studio with his attentive gaze, he gifts me a tense smile.

I return it. Somehow, it seems only right that he’s appeared to witness the retelling of what came next. After all, it’s his story too. We wrote the next chapter together.

Elliot turns to a fresh page, plucking the cap back off his fountain pen. “By all reports, Harrowdean Manor fell into violence. A riot broke out overnight. Incendia kept it quiet, though.”

“They were losing the fight. That’s why.”

He nods, poised to take fresh notes. “Tell us what happened next, Ripley.”

“Harrowdean wasn’t just my kingdom anymore. It was all of ours.” I look to Warner, still here all these years later. “Right, Langley?”

His baby blues twinkle.

“Right.”

To be concluded in…