Page 13 of His Dark Purpose

“Of course, I would have been.” He shook his head at her dismay. Yes, he’d anticipated a frosty response, but he couldn’t logically understand her recoiling body language. The fact he’d longed for her, even then, should have been a compliment, not an insult. “You’re beautiful, Amy. Who wouldn’t want you?”

“I’mnota rental payment!” She slid farther away, her gaze scanning the room for any new escape routes.

“No, I never meant that.” Trust his silly little girl to take his endearment and twist it into something nasty. “You mean the world to me, but I didn’t know you at the time. Then, you were just his wife.”

“A means to an end, eh?” Tears brimmed in her eyes as she hissed at me. “The best old Graham Kendal could give you?”

“He turned me down flat.” He assumed that would make her feel better, but watching her agitated breathing, he wasn’t so sure. “Said I needed to leave.”

“Oh, I wonder why?” Her tone was sardonic as she skipped from bed, backing as far away as the cuff permitted. She looked fucking ravishing in the kinky outfit with her tits spilling out of the bodice and her hair all disheveled. At any other moment, he’d have taken her right there over the bed. “Poor Gra… he must have been wrecked with worry about it all.”

“So worried that he didn’t even tell you?”

The way she was talking about the guy, he’d have thought Graham was a saint, but he’d listened to her frustrations about the life good old Graham had provided. It was far too late to canonize him.

“I’m sure he was trying to protect me.” Heaving in a breath, her free hand rose to wipe her eyes. “You don’t know what he was like. He loved me. He was a good—”

“Oh, come on!” Throwing back the covers, he dove from the bed and started toward her. “Protectyou? He couldn’t even keep a roof over your head long-term, and instead of leaving you with a nest egg after he died, he left you up to your ears in debt.”

“You bastard!” She yanked at the cuff holding her right hand again, the heel of her other hand unable to stem the falling fresh tears.

“Youtold me this information!” He stopped a foot away from her, unable to believe how ridiculous she was being. He’d expected hurt feelings but not the pathetic display of self-righteousness he was being forced to witness. “You said he left you with nothing but debt.”

“He loved me.” Her brow furrowed. “That’s why he told you no!”

“Yet he didn’t provide for you or your sons.” Surely, she understood what he was saying, even if she was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the point. “That doesn’t make him a very good husband in my book.”

“Fuck you!” Red-faced, she recoiled. “You can’t judge him. You don’t know anything about it.”

“On the contrary, little girl…”

She was going to be sorry for the performance she was putting on. Swearing at him, shouting, and continuing to refuse to use his title were going to be Mrs. Kendal’s fast pass to spanking city.

“I know everythingyou’vetold me. I know about your mediocre sex life and how you longed to be free of the monotony and financial hardship.”

It was possible he was taking a few liberties with the summary of their marriage, but he was too emboldened to care. Amy had crossed the line one too many times, and he was going to make her pay.

“I can’t believe you’d use those things against me.” Her body trembled as he stepped closer. “I told you how I felt in confidence.”

“And I told you the truth.” The ‘honesty’ game was getting old. “I offered to take you as payment for your family’s outstanding rent, but Graham refused. I don’t think it was too long after that he passed.”

The look of horror on her face convinced him he should have held the final line back.

“Oh God.” Her knees gave way, hitting the long-pile carpet with a gentle thud. “Oh God, maybe it was that conversation which finished him off?” Appalled eyes met Kyle’s. “It was you.Youkilled him!”

“For goodness sake.” He’d reached a similar conclusion himself, but her overreaction was Oscar worthy. “You’re upsetting yourself.”

“You’reupsetting me.” Practically hyperventilating, Amy was doubled over as far as her restraints permitted. “I can’t believe this!”

What he’d told her so far wasn’t even half of the real truth. He hadn’t yet disclosed how he’d watched her life fall to pieces in the years that followed, then meticulously planned their ‘accidental’ meeting once he’d been ready to make his move.

Watching her distress, he concluded she wasn’t ready for that level of honesty. Maybe she never would be.

“Come on…” He intended to embrace her, but her flailing limbs and sneering expression kept him at arm’s length.

“Get away from me!” She was like a hissing banshee, a version of Amy he’d never seen before and, frankly, never wanted to see again.

“You need to stop this, Amy.”

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