Page 73 of Inconvenient Marriage
“She jumped,” is his wry response. “Isn’t that what always happens in the Order? It finally came out. We were caught together, and her husband found out. Oh, they say that she jumped to save face after cheating on her husband, but I think you’ve been involved with the Order long enough to know that… our women? They don’t jump. They getpushed.
I’ve heard that before. Rumors ran that the wife of the former King had a similar ‘accident’. It’s easier to call it suicide than what it really is: murder. And Sebastien lost his Julie to the same fate.
“It was my fault. If I hadn’t loved her… or if I loved her enough to save her despite her admitting she never cared about me… she wouldn’t have fallen.” His expression is back to being flat. “After that, I stuck to one-night stands and the Used. I couldn’t risk falling in love again… until you.”
My heart jumps. That’s the second time he’s said something like that tonight. The first time, I purposely ignored it. But now? On the heels of his confession?
I decide that, before he can convince himself he cares for me, he needs to hearmine.
He wants to know about Eric? I tell him.
I tell him everything. All of the years I spent with him, and the manipulation… the threats… how I was so sure I loved him, but I was nothing more than a toy to the man who ruled my life for so long…
Sebastien doesn’t interrupt. He just lets me talk, listening as my voice starts out shaky, becomes firm throughout my story, before finally growing weak again as I tell him, “So that’s that. And I understand if that’s enough to make you want to end the contract. I didn’t… Icouldn’ttell you about him until now. But I put in that termination clause, about how we could end our marriage of convenience if either of us hid anything important. I understand you better now that I know about Julie, but I understand if Eric?—”
Sebastien snorts. Actually snorts. “You can be serious, Annaliese. I can’t end it. Even if I wanted to, it’s just not possible.”
I don’t understand. “Why not?”
“Because there is no contract.”
TWENTY-TWO
RUN
ANNALIESE
Istare at him. “Um. What? Of course there is. We both signed it…”
Sebastien gets to his feet. I pause, letting my words trail to a close as he ducks behind the couch, going through his luggage. When he’s standing again, he’s holding a black velvet box about the size of my phone.
“A couple of days into our marriage, I knew that this was it for me.Youwere it for me. So I took your binder, grabbed mine, and I burned those fuckers in that fireplace.” He uses his shoulder to gesture behind him at the dead grate. “I scooped up the ashes, brought them to this jeweler I found online. And he used the ashes to make this.”
Moving over to me, he pops open the lid on the box. My eyes go wide when I see the gold chain nestled on another black velvet bed, but it’s the small, heart-shaped pendant that really catches my attention. At first, you’d think it was a glittering diamond, but as he lowers it in front of me, letting me peer closely at it, I see the hint of black specks that might just be the melted plastic and burnt paper that used to be our marriage contracts.
He steps back, reaches into his jacket pocket, and pulls out a small velvet box.
My heart slams into my ribs.
I rerun what he said.A couple of days into our marriage… So he got a tattoo and then burned our contract? From the beginning?
“Sebastien—”
Before I know it, he’s lifting the necklace out of the jewelry box. He lets it fall to the floor, freeing his hands to undo the clasp and settle it around my throat. I can’t even stop him, and I don’t know if I would’ve if I could. I just sit still as he puts the necklace on me.
“There,” he say softly, lips brushing my ear, “now you know all of my truths. Julie broke my fucking heart, Annaliese. But you, love? You put it back together without even realizing you were doing it. And now you have mine.”
Remember that oppressive feeling like I needed to bolt from earlier? It comes back ten-fold.
I wait until he’s stood up before I jump to my feet.
Suddenly, I can’t breathe. The weight of the necklace he gave me is nothing, but the meaning? It’s too, too much.
“Sebastien, I—” I swallow. “I just… I need a moment. Okay?”
He stiffens. “Annaliese?”
I take a step away from him. Another. The cabin door is right over there. I just have to reach it.
