Fearless Sinner (Empire of Sinners #3)

Chapter 31

Chloe

Chapter Thirty-One

“You always wanted a pet growing up, but you couldn’t have one,” Cillian says, taking his turn in our drinking game.

“Correct. My dad was allergic to cats and dogs. I would have loved a cat.”

“I am so good at this.”

“You are.” He’s guessed everything right so far, whereas I’ve had two of my five guesses wrong.

Cillian pours some wine into the glass and hands it to me. I drink and savor the taste of the sweet wine.

Tonight, we’re stealing some time away from everything to spend the night together.

He was away all day again. When he got home, he took my hand, led me to his car, and we drove here to this little French restaurant he and Seamus love.

Since the other night when we confessed our love for each other, things have changed again. We’re closer, and there’s a deeper bond between us.

I know he still has a lot on his mind and a lot to work through, but he seems stronger. I am, too.

“Your turn, lass. Remember to be creative.”

“I'll do my best. It’s just hard to read you.”

“To give you a clue, I never had any pets either. My parents thought it would be too much hassle because we travelled so much.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. And there goes my question.” I laugh and try to think of something cool. “You always wanted to play an instrument.”

He chuckles. “Well done. I would have played the piano, but I never had the time to learn it. I can play a little, but not enough to claim that I play.”

“Yay me.”

He takes a drink.

“You can still learn to play the piano,” I point out.

“I suppose so. It’s just finding the time. How did you guess that?”

“Because of the way you look when I’m playing my music. Like you wish you could play. You also know the composers and the names of their compositions. Most people don’t know that.”

“I like Bach, Wagner, and Debussy.”

“Me too.”

“I know. My turn, lass.” He gives me a salacious smile that sets off the butterflies living in the pit of my stomach.

“Go for it.”

“You can’t wait to jump my bones when we get home. You’re planning on getting me naked and having your way with me the moment we step through the door.”

I laugh but decide to humor him because I always feel like that about him. “Correct.”

“I think I need a kiss.”

“C’mere, lad.” I do my best impression of his accent. It sounds terrible, but it works.

He leans in to give me a kiss. When we pull apart and I reach for my drink, my entire body freezes when I find myself staring at Cillian’s ex’s twin sister. The woman from Cillian’s office. It’s hard to believe it was months ago that I last saw her there.

Dressed in a little black dress and her hair in a ponytail, she would almost appear to be sophisticated and ladylike, but the vindictive smile that spreads across her face as she looks me up and down tells me otherwise.

On reading her obvious rudeness, Cillian sets his shoulders back and glares at her. “What do you want, Jessica?”

Jessica. That’s the first time he’s said her name.

“Well, well, I just had to come and see what the fuss was all about,” she says in a sing-song tone, looking at me. This is the first time that I’ve heard her speak, and already I don’t like her voice. It has that irritating irate tone that’s condescending as fuck.

I’ve never had someone come up to me before in a restaurant with such a hostile presence.

“I’m sure you can see we’re eating, so leave us.” Cillian continues to glare at her.

“Please humor me. I just wanted to see what was so special about the woman you chose to marry instead of me.”

My heart races, then it starts to pound. I was right. Somehow, I knew she was at his office that day because of his marriage clause. But Cillian chose me.

“You need to stop now.” Cillian sounds like he’s trying hard not to be disrespectful. “You were simply an option, and I didn’t choose you. I still won’t even when you dream up your sneaky tricks to get me.”

I think what I sensed about them was correct, too. She was after him.

“Yes, the Gallaghers told me how you kicked them to the curb for her.”

“They dug their own grave.”

I want to say something, but they’re talking about things I know nothing about. I have no idea who the Gallaghers are, and this woman wasn’t even on my radar until just now. No… that’s not true. Not entirely. I haven’t been thinking about her, but I’ve been thinking about her sister.

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to finish our dinner,” I speak up. I don’t want to appear to be one of those women who have no backbone and allow people to speak to them any old way. I’ve been through too much to allow even something simple to slide.

“Oh, sorry, sweetie. I just felt you should know that you are only temporary.” The bitterness in her malicious smile metastasizes across her face.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, so please don’t play the dumb bitch. I know Cillian O’Ridian.” She scoffs. “If he hasn’t told you about his six-months clause already, watch out for it. Because he won’t keep you. Unfortunately, the only woman he would have married for life is my sister. When they planned to get married, all they did was talk about kids and the future. I’ll bet it’s nothing like that with you.”

Despair anchors my lungs, pulling me under. It's like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and it finally has. Only it’s fallen to the floor and brought the walls of strength inside me crumbling down.

Cillian was going to marry his ex?

It’s not exactly surprising. It’s just that… he never mentioned it before. I don’t even know her name.

And those aren’t the parts that cut me deep. It’s the other parts Jessica mentioned. The parts about Cillian wanting to be married to her sister for life and talking about children and the future.

We don’t speak about such things because there is no future for us.

Cillian stands and steps forward, towering over her. I get the feeling that if she were a man, he’d hit her.

“Don’t you ever speak to my wife like that again,” he snarls. “In fact, stay the fuck away from me. Don’t come near me ever again. If you do, I’ll cut you and your family off from the clan. I mean it.”

At least she has the good sense to look stunned.

“Testy, testy, boss. I was just delivering a message, and I can see it’s been received.” Jessica looks around him at me and smiles as if she just won the prize of a lifetime.

I guess she did. She’s not with Cillian, and I won’t be for much longer either. It’s the classic case of if I can’t have him, you can’t either.

She turns on her heel and saunters away, leaving me to stew in the rude awakening she just shoved me in.

I’m such a fool. I didn’t even need to tell her I already knew about the six-months clause. She knew about that and was completely right.

I knew about it and agreed, then, like an idiot, I fell for my temporary husband.

The situation is like covering someone’s job for a fixed period and hoping the company will keep you even though you knew they were going to get rid of you at the end of the term.

Why would I think that this would be any different?

Jessica might be a vindictive bitch, but there was nothing she said to me that wasn’t true.