Page 104 of Taint My Soul

Memories flood in. Cold and aggravating.

The Red Horn Club.

The lie he told me at the docks.

All along, he’s been working with Neo. The same man responsible for killing the boys who burned my warehouse. The same man who convinced my security men to tamper with my cargo.

Fury burns in my eyes as I lean off the shelf and snatch the pictures away from the table, storming out of my office. I’m out of breath when I appear from the study and meet Mason perusing the wine shelf.

I tore myself apart for him.

I tore myself apart for him.

And he’s part of the people who have been working to bring down everything my family has built.

How could he do this? To me? To us?

Anger sharpens every nerve in my body until my skin burns with white-hot rage.

He turns around, the smile on his face withering away when he meets my hardened gaze.

“Is there a problem, Saint?” He tries to smile. How can he look at me like that when he had ulterior motives all along? God, I was so stupid. So stupid to believe that the man who had raised me didn’t know better. I should have stuck to his words. But I foolishly discarded every fucking thing I knew because I had a crush. Because I couldn’t get him out of my mind. I made reckless decisions. I didn’t pause or think. I almost lost my life to Cyrus because I was infatuated with a fucking liar.

A fraud.

A spy.

My hands slam against the counter, and his gaze instantly drops to the pictures. His blood runs cold. The air around him dissolves with fear, but he doesn’t move. He remains where he is.

I rub my hands over my eyes, and a broken, tortured chuckle escapes my lips. “Was any of it true?” I ask and shrug. He stares at me, chest rising for air, but he doesn’t utter a single word. I inhale sharply and fight back a sordid laugh. “Did you take pictures of the map?” To think that I was quick to defend him and put him first. To think that I was falling for him. That I was ready to challenge everything I believed in for him.

“I did, but I can explain…”

“I TORE MYSELF APART FOR YOU!” I roar at him, veins popping around my neck. He shivers, jerking backward. I should have listened to Virgil. I should have kept my head down and focused on the family. But I’m the lovesick puppy who couldn’t wait to get laid so he could prove himself to a man who might have never cared about him. “And it was for nothing. How could you do this to me?” I turn around, body vibrating with uncontainable anger. The air twists with the taste of my fury and his pathetic fear.

His expression twists with regret, carrying the weight of his betrayal.

But that doesn’t fool me because this is a game for him. And to think that I carry a part of him inside me. I thought his kisses meant something. I thought I was doing this for both of us.

“Can you not speak, huh?” My hand springs forward and slams the wine off the counter. It lands on the floor and shatters, sending a shock through Mason’s body.

“I can explain.”

“You’re my fucking enemy. You are a fucking devil. You did all this just so you could rip everything about me apart.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Explain it to me then. I almost lost everything three weeks ago because of you. You. And yet, you looked me in my eyes, and you kissed me in your room.” My fingers close around the necklace he got me for my birthday. I rip it off and toss it to him. Tears stream down his face, and his lips move, but they don’t form any proper words.

My heart aches with regret.

The one time I try to do something for myself, it blows up in my face.

The one time I try to piece myself together, I lose it all.

“You know what? Leave! Whatever this is, it’s over. It never happened.” I turn to head for the stairs.

“But Saint...” My name on his lips doesn’t sound like it used to. I hate him.