Page 131 of My Beautiful Sin

“Yes,” he says. “We will.”

We smile at each other, then ride in silence for the next few blocks. We’re almost to the Manhattan theater where the award ceremony is being held. I reach over and take his hand. “Are you okay?”

Since Anna died, we’ve talked a lot about what happened. We listened to Lamar chew us out for not getting him involved from the beginning. For flouting the law and for putting our lives at risk.

And we watched Brandy’s shocked face as we told her everything, including how we’d suspected Christopher. Lamar had taken Christopher in for formal questioning, but there was nothing to suggest that he was working with Anna in her quest to get rid of me. Instead, the puzzle pieces seem to suggest that it was my investigation of Peter that started the ball in motion. Because sooner or later, I’d find out about the porn. And that would lead to Cyrus and the tapes of Anna. Tapes she wanted to stay hidden.

All because she loved Devlin. And in her mixed up mind she’d believed that she could win him if she just got rid of me and cleaned up her past.

As for whether Christopher was working with Joseph Blackstone on the leaked information, there was no evidence there, either. That’s not something Lamar knows about, though. But Devlin and Ronan and the rest of his team are keeping an eye on the situation. And me? I’m just hoping it doesn’t blow back on Brandy.

Most of all, I’m happy to be alive and with Devlin. We have work to do, of course. What couple doesn’t? But I love him, and that makes it worth it.

“Devlin?” I press.

“I’m fine,” he assures me. “I only—”

“What?”

“This award. What do you think of it?”

I hear the bigger question in his words. He’s getting the award for the foundation side of his life. But he has other facets, too. Sides that use hard actions to solve scary problems. Methods that humanitarian causes the world over might find troubling, to say the least.

“I think it’s wonderful,” I tell him truthfully. “You deserve it. This award, and so much more.”

He pulls me close and kisses me. “Thank you.”

“Don’t doubt yourself.”

He laughs. “I rarely do.” Gently, he strokes my cheek. “And if I show you my weaknesses, it must mean I love you.”

“You do,” I say. “But you’re not weak.” I tilt my head and smile as I recite the words he once left for me, printed on a note that he left as a talisman. “Always remember that you’re strong.”

“With you at my side, I can’t be anything else. Now kiss me quick. We’re here.”

Our lips brush, the kiss lingering as we wait for the door to open. There’s a red carpet and a throng on either side of it behind the velvet ropes.

As soon as the door opens, noise surges and lights flash as the crowd shouts out his name and questions. I almost laugh, because I’ve never walked among the paparazzi before, and though I avoid social media, I’ll definitely be checking for pictures tomorrow.

Then I start to pay attention to the actual words. That’s when my smile turns to plastic and my blood chills.

“Is it true?”

Devlin grips my hand harder.

“Is your name really Alejandro Lopez?”

“How have you managed to keep your identity hidden for so long?”

“Why the ploy, Mr. Saint?”

“Did you do wet work for your father?”

“How can you have the gall to accept the World Council Humanitarian Award under a false name?”

“Is your father really Daniel Lopez?”

“Did you really grow up with The Wolf?”