Page 198 of Poison Vows

“That’s all?”

“What are you expecting? A parade for a man who would sell me in a heartbeat, so long as his targeted outcome is met?”

“Sell you?” he whispers. “No one can afford you but me. Hell, not even I can afford you, and I’m the wealthiest person alive.”

I roll my eyes, but my heart is still pounding painfully at the strangeness of this moment.

“I’d never give you to anyone, Angel… I was giving him to you. As bait to reel in the shitheads that hurt you, your grandfather and my mother.”

“That’s not how it was for me!”

“Angel…”

“No, let’s talk. Actually, let’s lay everything out in the open so we’re both clear,” I say dropping the blouse I was folding. “Not six months ago, it would’ve taken extreme measures for you to even be in the same room as me, let alone talk to me. And just when I want to actually move on, find an escape for myself, you come in like a raged bull, wrecking everything apart, tossing me some measly morsels of perfectly calculated affection, then tearing me into a bloody mess when you tell me you don’t feel anything for me!”

As soon as those words drop, it’s like the cracks in the depth of my soul just broke apart.

Through my blurring vision, I manage to catch the crestfallen expression on Emmett’s face that I don’t dare trust.

For all I know, he’s acting right now.

“No, Angel, that’s not…”

He attempts to reach for me, but I step away, hugging myself as the pain filtering through becomes too much to handle.

“Did you have to be so cruel?” I croak past my burning throat. “Yes, it’s my fault that I never listened to you when you pushed me away! I’m a dumb bimbo who can’t understand the signs and signals but, my God, Emmett, why did you have to go to such extreme lengths to make me suffer?”

“I would never?—"

“But you did! You did everything to keep me alive when you could’ve gotten rid of me without getting your hands dirty!” I cry, my heart ablaze, turning into charcoal. “Why did you protect me? Why were you always around when I was lonely? Why did you keep coming closer? Why did you let me hear your fucking cursed heartbeat back then? Was it your plan all along? To make me fall for you so irrevocably that you owned me? Did you find pleasure in how pathetic I’ve been for you because the one you wanted didn’t want you back?”

“What? No!” Emmett says immediately, swallowing the space between us. “That’s not how it was at all. I never wanted Astraea. I…”

He trails off, his lips pressing together tightly while his eyes burn through me as if he expects me to be that naïve girl that used to believe the looks he gave me had hidden messages.

Now, I know better.

I scoff, shaking my head, feeling an exhaustion that crashes my bones.

“You know what, I don’t care anymore,” I whisper, looking down at my shoes. “I think we both got what we wanted, so let’s stop here. Sign the damn divorce papers.”

“No.”

I look up at the sound of his raspy voice but somehow, that same tone echoes around in the empty chambers of my heart, producing nothing.

Not an inch of feeling or emotion. Everything is dead.

“You wanted to use me, and it worked. I wanted a baby, but you never intended to honor your part of the contract, but you did give me spectacular orgasms. Thanks for that!”

His entire body tenses right in front of my eyes as an aura of danger starts wafting around him like a visible flow of energy.

“Oh, so you finally got choked, sucked, and fucked, and now you’re done?” he snaps with a clipped tone. “You’re going to walk away now?”

A fake smile graces my face as I nod. “Absolutely. I got the experience I wanted. Now, I won’t be fumbling when I’m with the love of my life later. You did a great job.”

This seems like the wrong thing to say because Emmett’s nostrils flare and his fists clench at his sides.

“Don’t fucking cheapen our lovemaking like I’m your fucking gigolo!” he seethes.

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