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"Do you?"
"Hell no, baby. I'm so fucking in love with you it's terrifying, but I don't regret a single fucking thing."
Hope flares in my chest, bright and hot. "Then what's wrong? Please, just tell me," I plead quietly. "Not knowing is killing me because I know you're hiding something. I feel it."
He sighs heavily and sits up, pulling me with him. I burrow into him, clinging to his hard body.
"My heart was yours before I ever said I do, baby." More tears well in my eyes at his declaration, but he isn't finished. "But I know you don't trust me entirely," he says softly, brushing his thumb along my bottom lip.
"I do trust you," I protest, scanning his face, searching for answers…trying to understand what's going on in his head.
"You still doubt me, baby. You wouldn't be crying so hard if you didn't."
My teeth sink into my quivering lip because he's right. As much as I want to give myself over to him completely, as much as I trust him, some small part of me is still afraid that he can't give himself back to me the same way.
"Dalton, I…"
"It's not your fault, Tempest. You're being manipulated," he says.
My gaze flies to his, confusion coursing through me. "What are you talking about?"
"I should have told you already." He blows out a harsh breath, tensing. "But I'm still a fucking coward. When it comes to you, I think part of me always will be. Part of me will always be fucking terrified of losing you because I need you so goddamn much."
My heart clenches at his words. "Needing someone, being afraid of losing them, doesn't make you a coward, Dalton. It makes you human."
He presses a kiss to my temple, his arms tightening around me. "I know that. At least, I'm learning that," he says. "But I'm worried as fuck that you won't believe a goddamn word I have to say when you hear it because of how badly I've been fuckingthis all up from the beginning. There wouldn't have been room for manipulation if I wasn't such a fucking coward. You'd have known from the beginning exactly how I felt."
I stare at him for a long moment, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You're scaring me," I whisper, my voice shaking. "W-what are you talking about?"
He hesitates, hazel eyes searching mine, before sighing heavily. "The day I was released from jail, and I saw you with Triton, I started looking into him." His jaw clenches. "I was jealous as hell, afraid you were in love with him."
My nose wrinkles at the thought and Dalton shrugs ruefully.
"I didn't know he was your cousin," he says. "I stopped looking when I found that out, but when he was so fucking angry about the marriage, I asked my investigator to dig deeper."
He pauses, and I hold my breath, terrified of what he might say next. Terrified it will shatter the already cracking foundation of my world.
"Triton hates me because he's after your company, baby."
My brows furrow. "Dalton, that's not…"
"I know you don't want to believe me, but I'm telling you the truth, sweetheart," he says gently, cupping my cheek. "He didn't want this marriage to happen so the company would go to him. He owes people money—a lot of money. He's been holding them off with promises that Evernight would pass to him soon."
"No," I say again, louder this time, denial welling up from the pit of my stomach. "He wouldn't do that, Dalton. He's my best friend. I'd know if he owed people money. If he wanted my company."
But even as the words leave my mouth, I know. As much as I don't want to admit it, as much as I want to cling to the image of the cousin I love, the best friend I trust…I know.
Everything Triton has said, everything he's done, all the hateful things he's tried to convince me about Dalton… He'sbeen manipulating me, pouring poison in my ear to convince me that Dalton will never love me, that he could never love me. And when I married him anyway, he was angry, furious, even.
He needs me to believe our marriage is a sinking ship headed for doom. It's the only way he gets what he wants.
And I let him do it.
I scramble off Dalton's lap as shame and guilt crash through me in a tidal wave, threatening to bowl me over. My chest feels too tight, my lungs incapable of drawing breath.
Dalton rises to his feet, following me.
"Don't," I rasp, my voice shaking as badly as my hands. "You can't just…"
