Page 64 of Dark & Deceitful

“Months.”

This piece of shit.

“You fucked her for months?” I seethe. Months. Not days. Not weeks. Months.

My ex nods twice. “It was part of the job, so yes.”

“Was getting her pregnant part of the job?” I sass back.

“No.” He scowls like I’ve somehow offended him. “Of course not. That was an accident. That’s the only reason I didn’t come home sooner.”

Hold up.

Am I hearing this right?

Are you hearing this right?

Did he say what I think he just said?

“You fucked this woman for months, and had shenotgotten pregnant, you would have come home sooner?!” I shrill and try to stand, but Sunshine’s there, forcing me to remain on his lap with his iron grip digging into my hips so I can’t launch myself across the room and punch my ex-husband in the jaw or, worse, castrate him with a knife. His knife. I’m sure he has one in his bag. I’ll put them in a jar on my nightstand as a morbid trophy. Or maybe I’ll bury them in my garden. They’ll make the perfect fertilizer. Hell, let’s bury him in the garden. Daisies will look extra pretty, blooming out of his eye sockets.

Closing his eyes, Dark shakes his head. “Of course, I would have come home sooner. You’re my wife. I wanted to be with mywife. I didn’t want to be there. But that’s what I was ordered to do.”

Oh, poor Dark, forced to screw a sexy, younger woman for months. Please excuse me while I weep for him.

“Hold up.” I lift my hand to collect my thoughts and temper my growing anger. I blow out a breath, then another, before I speak again. “You would have come home and never told me about Abby had she not gotten pregnant? You cheated on me, and you weren’t going to tell me?”

Looking up to the ceiling, yellowed from years of smoke, Dark massages the nape of his neck and rolls his shoulders. My jailer removes his hold on my hips as we wait a solid minute for his son to answer. “Kali. Babe. It…It’s not like that,” he tries and fails to sound convincing.

Refusing to back down, I dig a little deeper. “You stuck your dick, the one I was married to, into another pussy that didn’t belong to me, and you weren’t going to tell me you cheated. How many times did this happen, Dark?”

My ex’s throat rolls as he swallows thickly. “Kali. Please. Don’t.” His voice is hoarse. But it’s not good enough. I need to know.

“Answer the goddamn question.” Foot bouncing, my anger’s replaced with anxiety. Because this is it. He’s gonna tell me. Finally, after all these years, he’s being honest not only with me but himself.

His nostrils flare. “No.”

“Why?” I push, knowing I’ve got him right where I want him. There’s no getting out of this now. He has no place to go. No place to hide. “Because it was more than Abby, wasn’t it? You cheated on me multiple times, didn’t you? And you felt nothing when you cheated on Abby with me because… because you… oh, my, Mother Earth, you do it to her, too, don’t you?”

Dropping his gaze, Dark stares straight ahead at the ugly, yellow flower wallpaper. Tears trickle down his cheeks, and his bottom lips wobble as if talking about his cheating ways is ripping him apart. Fuck that. He did this. He doesn’t get to be sad about it.

When Dark doesn’t reply, I keep going, and Sunshine’s arms curl around me in a band of comfort and support. “How many women did you cheat on me with?”

“None.”

“Liar!” I snarl.

My ex swipes the wetness from his face with the back of his hand. “I have no love for anyone I’ve ever slept with, Kali, except you. It doesn’t matter how many pussies I’ve fucked. It doesn’t matter why I had to fuck them. I have never loved a single person as much as I love you. You are my wife. That’s what I keep fuckin’ telling you. That’s why I won’t divorce you. You. Are. My. Wife!” Dark roars, punching the air. Face flushed, the muscles in his neck and chest tighten as he slams his fist into the bed, growling like a caged beast. Throwing his skull into the headboard, it ricochets off the wall as he beats the mattress on either side of him again and again until the veins in his forearms pop.

Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I whisper, “I hate you.”

How could someone do the things he has?

I poison people and feel nothing. But even I would never consider hurting the one I claim to love. Not for anything in the world.

“Christ, I know! I live with that every fuckin’ goddamn day.”

“And now you’re hurting Abby,” I shoot back. Sunshine rubs my stomach as if trying to calm me.

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