Page 134 of Monsters Wear Crowns
“I gave youeverything,” he said, and his voice cracked on the last word like it physically hurt him to speak. “Everything, Dela. My protection. My heart. My fuckingsoul.And you go tohim?”
Tears welled in my eyes. “I didn’t sleep with him.”
“Youwantedto.” He said it like a fact. As sure as a knife embedded into my chest.
“I didn’t–” I started, but then his handwason me. Rough. Gripping my jaw. Forcing my face up so I had no choice but to look into his furious, betrayed eyes.
His thumb pressed against my bottom lip, shaking. “What else would you have spent time doing?”
“No–Rafe, please.” My voice cracked, but I didn’t know if it was fear or guilt or both. “It was a mistake. I stopped it. I swear to God, I stopped it–”
His grip tightened on my jaw. His other hand caught my wrist andpinnedit to the wall above my head. “You think you know what I’ll do for you?” he hissed. “You havenoidea. You belong to me, Adela. Not him.Not anyone but me.And if you everfuckingforget that again,I’ll fucking kill you.”
My heart nearly stopped.I’d never been so scared of him.“I…I know it looks–”
“Walk me through it.” His voice was sharp as broken glass.“Tell me, Adela...how thefuckdid you end up in his house? You spent hours inside with him! And you want me to believe–what? That you just sat and had a lovely littlechat?” His rage was horrifying. It filled the room like smoke.
“You don’t trust me, I get that–” I choked out, my voice barely more than a whisper.How the fuck could I have done this to him?Ihatedcheaters. And I let myself get caught in a horrible situation. I couldn’t exactly blame the wine…even if I wanted to.
A sharp, bitter laugh burst from him. “Trust you?Trust you?How thefuckam I supposed to trust you when you’re out there with a man who wants medead?” He ripped away from me, pacing, his hands running through his hair.
Tears scorched down my cheeks. “It wasn’t like that.”
His fist slammed onto his desk so hard everything on itrattled. “Then tell me what itwaslike, Adela!”
But I couldn’t. There were no words that would fix this. No version of the truth that would undo what he’d seen.It was bad. I was bad.His chest was heaving, his knuckles bone-white, his jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it might snap. His control wasbreaking–right in front of me.
“After everything I’ve done to protect you,” he hissed, his voice trembling with barely caged fury. “After everything I’vefelt–”
“Stop it!” I snapped, my own fear flaring into anger. “You’re not thinking straight–”
“Shut up!” He was on me in an instant, crossing the space like a predator. His hands gripped my arms so hard I gasped.
“You’re hurting me,” I whispered. Something flickered across his face.Guilt? Pain?I wasn’t sure. But then it was gone, swallowed by the storm.
“I trusted you,” he said, voice cracked and hollow, and my heartsplitopen. “I fuckingtrustedyou.” His body trembled as if he were struggling to hold himself back. But then his hand moved,wrapping around my throat.
My breath lodged. His fingers were warm and rough against the most vulnerable part of me. My heart thundered so loud I swore he could feel it through his palm. Maybe he could. Maybe he evenlikedit.
“Let me go, Rafe,” I choked out, staring up at him.
“No.” His grip tightenedjust enoughto make my throat constrict. I coughed. His eyes, once ice, now looked nearly black. Dilated. Deranged.
My mind was screaming, fear clawing its way through me. So when he finally turned away, that taut line of his back, muscles coiled like a predator about to strike, I reached into my purse, my fingers closing around the cold metal of my pistol.
“Rafe.”
He turned–and froze.
The gun was already leveled at his chest. For a second, there was nothing but silence. A simmering, unstable stillness.
“Put the gun down, Adela.” His voice was calm, but his eyes–those dark, dangerous eyes–burned.
“Not until you listen to me.” My hand didn’t shake. “I didn’t sleep with him. And I won’t be your fucking punching bag. I will not let you hurt–”
The room exploded into chaos. Rafe’s men surged forward, guns raised and pointing atme. My pulse roared in my ears. An abrupt shot rang out. The bullet slammed into the bookshelf inches from my head, splintering wood and sending shards flying. I flinched, heart lurching–
Then, another gunshot.
