Chapter 58
Cassian
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I lean back, feeling almost guilty, like she’s caught me doing something I shouldn’t.
Maybe I shouldn’t be questioning her while she’s drunk, but this conversation feels like the first one we’ve had.
It feels like I’m finally opening my eyes to who she is.
Gemma blinks, and I realize she’s still confused about who I am and where she is.
“How has Reyna stolen things from you?” I ask, because suddenly, that feels like the most important thing to know.
“Reyna?” she asks, still blinking. “She…she has it all. My dad spent all his money on her. Education. Buying her a house. Buying her cars. Designer clothes. She’s not the reason he had so many debts, but she didn’t help.”
She takes a shaky breath, and I see tears stream down her face. “I thought getting married would mean I had someone on my side, but it didn’t.”
Then she lays down again. I’m not sure if she’d passed out or not.
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Chapter 58
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I never thought of Gemma as fragile, but now that I see her curled in the silver light from the window, I see how breakable she could
- be.
Her words about Reyna are hard to make sense of.
I spent years around Reyna, and I’ve never seen her spend money on useless things.
Except…she did spend five million dollars to buy Gemma’s wedding ring. As much as the ring is a piece of art, it’s not worth nearly that much.
I’m sure if Reyna was here, she’d say something about
manipulation. She’d say that Gemma was only pretending to be drunk, that she was lying.
But I can smell the alcohol. I can see the haze in Gemma’s eyes.
I know this isn’t an act.
On the bed, Gemma starts to cough and gag.
I grab her and stride into the bathroom, then hold her hair back while she throws up in the toilet.
With a sigh, I help her lean against the counter and wipe her face
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Chapter 58
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with a rag, then her hands. I call a female servant, who helps her change into clean pajamas and braids back her long, soft hair.
I come back with water in a water bottle that’s easy to drink out of. She’s nearly asleep when I bring the water.
When I prop her up and hold the bottle to her lips, she groans and turns her head away, clearly annoyed.
I stroke her arm, circling my fingers on the soft skin on the underside of her wrist. “Come on. Just take a sip.”
I try to sound soothing, even though it’s not something I know how to do. But it seems to work. She sighs and drinks some water.
She drinks about half the bottle before she falls asleep again. I lower her gently back to the bed, then I stand up and go to the window, then I pull out my phone.
“Adam,” I say when my assistant answers. “Unlock all of Gemma’s bank cards.”
*****
Gemma
I can’t sleep. There’s something wrong with me.
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Chapter 58
Something…someone is chasing me through my dreams.
I run through scenes from my past.
Taking my mother to the mental hospital.
My father’s funeral.
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Reyna laughing in my face as she went to yet another underworld banquet or ball with my father.
Her mother, Angela, slapping my mother across the face when I was twelve years old.
Whatever was chasing me wouldn’t stop. It was there, always, a shadow in the corner of my eye…
Chasing me deeper…
I stand in the shadows of the warehouse, outside the windows of Cassian’s office. The warehouse is empty and silent except for
- me.
Then it’s like two figures appear in the office, Reyna and Cassian.
Reyna leans back against the desk, grinning. She hooks a finger in the collar of Cassian’s shirt and pulls him forward. She caresses the sexy dark stubble on his face.
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He smiles down at her, and there’s so much love in his eyes it makes my chest feel like it’s breaking open.
The way he treats her is a night and day difference compared to how he treats me. All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is for Cassian to look at me like that.
All night long, I’m trapped in a relentless loop of nightmares. No matter what I do, she wins.
No matter what I do, he always loves her, and not me.
*****
Cassian
Gemma tosses and turns all night. No matter what I do, or how l soothe her, she won’t sleep easy.
I stay awake, holding her until the sky brightens out the window and the sun starts to rise.
*****
Gemma
My head throbs. That’s what wakes me up–the pain. I groan and
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sit up in bed.
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My mouth tastes like something died in it. I need to brush my teeth
now.
Then my hand falls to the side, and my fingers brush something warm. A man’s body.
Did I come home with a stripper?!
I gasp and jump out of bed, but he seizes my wrist and pulls me down against his naked chest.
“Shh. It’ll do both of us some good to sleep a little longer.”
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