Page 67 of Hayes

Who is he loyal to?

Is he just a weapon?

Or is he forced to play this role as a punishment?

Is he protecting me?

Does he love me?

I can’t make sense of him.

But when I look at him, I hear him say I love you, Lilith, Lily, murderous one. I see him smile in my mind—one that truly reaches his eyes and isn’t forced. I feel the pull to him. The attraction. The way he kissed me, touched me, fucked me.

It had to be real.

It couldn’t be fake.

“You can stop the act now. We’re alone. Titus and his men are outside. He knows his only chance of me agreeing to marry him is if this conversation is truly private. Talk to me. Tell me your plan,” I demand.

His eyebrows slowly raise, and he leans back in the booth, resting his arm across the back as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.

“Oh, you think I’m acting? You think I have a plan?”

“I do,” I reply.

“You’re wrong.”

“I know you love me.”

He laughs. It’s a vicious, cruel laugh—an act to push me away. But why?

“Ask Ruby if I love her. She’d say the same thing. I’m sorry, but it’s an act. You got played, and I’m sorry for that, but the game is over. You lost. Move on.”

I frown, not sure how to break him.

“You aren’t going to save me?” I ask.

He narrows his gaze and leans onto his forearms on the table so his lips are close to mine. “You don’t need saving. Titus is a good man. He won’t hurt you. He won’t even force you to marry him. It will be your choice.”

I shake my head. “I don’t believe you. I’m not giving up on you, not yet. Titus agreed to help me get revenge and help me find the man who killed my father. I promised I’d marry him if he did. And I won’t back out of that promise. So if you want me, if you have some plan, you better do it quick.”

Hayes tenses ever so slightly. Most people wouldn’t notice, but I know him well enough to notice the change.

I frown.

“You had a secret you were going to tell me. I know you’re hiding something. What is it?”

I don’t expect him to answer me. I don’t expect him to tell me anything, but there’s a wicked smirk on his lips.

“I don’t have a plan to save you, but I should probably kill you before you kill me.”

“And why would I kill you?”

“Because I killed your father.”

No.

No.

No.

No.

He couldn’t have, but why would he lie? He has no reason to hide it, not when Titus agreed to help me get revenge.

The man I love killed my father. My heart shatters into a million pieces, and now I know I’ll never recover. But I don’t let him see my brokenness, so I stare him down until I’m able to respond.

“Then I guess we’ll see who kills whom first.”