Chapter 14 You Look So Beautiful
Stella immediately tore her hand from his grasp. She stepped back, pressing her lips together as she struggled to steady her breathing.
“When we were together,” she replied, her voice strained. “I know you were cheating on me. That’s why I left.”
Lucius stared at her as though she had accused him of something incomprehensible. His jaw tightened, and he shook his head once.
“I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice dropping into a rough, disbelieving growl. “I never touched another woman, Stella. I didn’t even hold another woman’s hand.”
Stella gave a bitter laugh, though there was no humor in it. “You’re still denying it?”
“Because it’s the truth.” Lucius stepped closer, his eyes hardening as he tried to force her to look at him. “What the hell do you think I did?”
“The day before I broke up with you, I called you, and Catherine answered.” Stella’s voice trembled as the memory resurfaced, but she forced herself to continue.
“She told me you were taking a bath. I didn’t want to believe what I was hearing, but then you came home with lipstick marks all over your shirt. ”
Her eyes glistened as she looked at him.
“I saw them, Lucius. They were right there on your clothes. What else was I supposed to think? You slept with her before you came home.”
“No, I sure as fuck didn’t.” Lucius’s voice cracked through the room.
He dragged a hand over his face, then dropped it to his side, his disbelief giving way to mounting frustration.
“The day before you broke up with me, I was at a resort with several of my business partners. I told you where I was going before I left.”
He took another step toward her, his gaze never leaving her face.
“I went swimming before I came home, and the staff took my clothes away to dry them. I have no fucking idea where those lipstick stains came from, but I didn’t sleep with Catherine. I never fucking touched her.”
Stella went completely still.
Lucius wasn’t lying. She could see it in his face, hear it in the raw disbelief threaded through his voice. For the first time in a year, uncertainty began to creep through the certainty she had built around her memories.
‘Could I have misunderstood everything?’
Her gaze flickered as another possibility took shape in her mind.
‘Did Catherine do it on purpose back then?’
Before Stella could make sense of it, Lucius caught her by the waist and pulled her against him. His face was flushed with anger, his eyes burning as he looked down at her.
“You never trusted me?” he demanded, his voice low and furious. “Not once? When the fuck have I ever given you a reason to believe I’d be disloyal to you? I was always with you, Stella. There was no one else. I never even looked at another woman.”
“No, I did trust you, but—”
“But what?” he cut in, his jaw tightening. “You saw some fucking lipstick on my shirt, and that was enough for you to walk away from me?”
“Lucius—”
“Do you really think I’m that kind of man?” he demanded. “You didn’t even question me. You didn’t confront me. You didn’t give me a chance to explain. You just broke up with me and disappeared.”
Stella lowered her eyes, her lips parting, but Lucius was too consumed by his anger to let her speak.
“And then you got yourself a new boyfriend because you were angry with me?” he continued, his gaze snapping toward Shane. “That’s what you did?”
His accusation made Stella flinch.
Lucius abruptly turned toward Nial, who was standing at the door, and his expression became vicious.
“Get that Catherine Winters the fuck out of this city!” He roared. “Take every fucking deal her company has lined up. I don’t give a fuck what it costs. Destroy her business. I never want to see that goddamn woman smile again.”
Nial’s immediately straightened and nodded.
“Yes, Mr. Frost.”
He hurried out of the room at once.
For a moment, silence settled over the room.
Shane and Stella exchanged a look. Shane then rubbed a hand over his forehead, as though he were already regretting the conversation that was about to follow.
“Mr. Frost,” he began, drawing his attention back to him. “I’m not Stella’s boyfriend.”
Lucius’s glare sharpened.
He turned toward Shane and took a threatening step forward. “So you were just using her to sleep with her?” His voice dropped into a dangerous growl. “You fucking asshole—”
His fist shot up, but before he could swing, Stella grabbed his arm and pulled it back with both hands.
“For God’s sake, Lucius, listen first!” she snapped. “Why do you get angry so easily?”
Lucius’s nostrils flared as he glared at Shane, but he allowed Stella to hold him back.
Shane let out a long, weary breath and rubbed a hand over his forehead. Lucius’s temper was becoming exhausting, and he was beginning to regret getting involved in the argument.
“Stella and I were never in a relationship,” he said, lowering his hand and meeting Lucius’s furious stare. “We’re friends. That’s all.”
Lucius looked at him as though he had just said something utterly ridiculous.
“You’ve been living under the same roof as her for over a fucking year,” he shot back. “And you expect me to believe you never developed feelings for her?”
His gaze shifted briefly to Stella before returning to Shane, his disbelief deepening.
“Have you even looked at her?” he demanded, gesturing toward her with an incredulous sweep of his hand. “Who the fuck wouldn’t fall in love with her?”
“Lucius,” Stella warned, her eyes widening as she stepped toward him.
But he barely acknowledged her.
“No, seriously.” He pointed at Shane, his brows drawn tightly together. “You lived with her for more than a year. You shared a fucking home with her, and you’re standing there telling me you never once caught feelings for her?!”
“I didn’t,” Shane snapped, his patience finally wearing thin.
Lucius opened his mouth to argue again, but Shane cut him off before he could say another word.
“Because I have a boyfriend!” he growled.
Lucius froze.
The hand he had raised in accusation remained suspended for a moment before slowly dropping to his side. His expression emptied of anger, replaced by complete bewilderment as he stared at Shane.
Shane leaned back against the pillows, folding his arms across his chest as he gave Lucius a tired, impatient look.
“Stella and I agreed to pretend to be married because of my personal problems,” he explained.
“I needed the protection of the people she’s connected to to keep my sister and me safe.
The man who’s after me has been watching my movements, and I needed him to believe that being Stella’s husband would put me under the protection of the same powerful people she’s connected to.
That would make coming after me a lot more dangerous for him. ”
He paused, glancing briefly at Stella before continuing.
“I needed to stall him. I needed him to believe that if he came after me, he’d be going up against people he couldn’t afford to cross.”
His gaze returned to Lucius.
“So I asked Stella to pretend to be my wife. If he believed I was married to her and living under the protection of the people around her, he’d have to think twice before making a move.
And while he was focused on me, my sister could stay out of his reach.
He can’t keep his attention on two targets at once. ”
Lucius slowly turned toward Stella, his brows pulling together.
“You agreed to this?” he demanded. “You actually agreed to pretend to be this man’s wife and live with him for over a fucking year?”
“Lucius, it wasn’t like that,” Stella said, reaching for his arm.
He pulled away, still struggling to process what he had heard.
“I don’t give a fuck how it was.” He dragged a hand through his hair, his frustration returning. “You could’ve been killed because of this ridiculous arrangement.”
“But I wasn’t,” Stella replied quietly.
Lucius stared at her, his lips pressing into a hard line. He clearly wanted to argue, but the anger in his eyes had begun to give way to something else.
Relief.
Stella and Shane had never been together. Their marriage had been nothing more than an arrangement, and she had never chosen Shane over him. The realization eased something inside Lucius that had been twisted painfully tight for the past year.
Then Shane’s expression grew more thoughtful. He glanced between Stella and Lucius before speaking again.
“She didn’t leave you because she stopped loving you.”
Lucius’s head turned sharply toward him.
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Shane looked at Stella. She stiffened immediately, her fingers curling nervously at her sides.
“She left because she wanted to bury her feelings for you,” Shane explained. “She thought staying away from you was the only way she could move on.”
Lucius slowly turned toward Stella.
For a moment, he said nothing. He simply stared at her, searching her face as though he was afraid to believe what Shane had told him.
“You were in love with me?” he asked, his voice suddenly stripped of its anger.
Stella’s eyes flickered with uncertainty. “Lucius—”
“You still love me?” he repeated, stepping closer.
She swallowed, her gaze dropping as emotion tightened her throat. She wanted to answer him, but the words refused to come.
Lucius watched her in silence for a few seconds. Then her silence gave him the answer he had been desperate to hear.
A disbelieving smile slowly touched his mouth.
He reached for her, cupping her face between his hands and drawing her toward him.
“Answer me, Stella,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion.
Before she could even take another breath, he lowered his head and kissed her.
His mouth covered hers with a desperation that stole her breath.
He kissed her as though he had been starving for her for the past year, pressing his lips against hers, then parting them to deepen the kiss.
His tongue brushed against hers, warm and wet, tasting her as though he needed to make certain she was real.
Stella gasped softly against his mouth.
He caught the sound with another kiss.