Prologue I Constantine #3
“Because you want me to dump Isabella so you can have her. And then you’ll pump and dump.”
He stepped back as the most wounded look he’d ever worn came over his face. “Jesus Christ, Con. She doesn’t want me. She wants you. I couldn’t have her even if I wanted to. The only way I could was when she thought I was you for sixty seconds.”
“Then what the fuck has been going on between you? I saw you talking on the patio. Saw the way you stared at each other across the room. If you didn’t want me to know, you sure made it pretty fucking obvious.”
He pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms. He looked at the floor before he found my eyes again. “She was obviously pissed off when she realized I wasn’t you. Slapped me and shoved me.”
“I would hope so, because that’s fucking assault, Edric.”
“I didn’t assault her—”
“She thought you were me, so that wasn’t consensual. Your face will be broken before you leave this apartment, Edric.” I wouldn’t let him get away with what he did to my girl—even if she wouldn’t be my girl anymore when this was over.
He didn’t argue, accepted the punishment like a man. “And then there was tension between us because . . . I think she started to feel attracted to me.”
I felt fucking sick.
“We talked a couple times, and she said she just wanted to forget what happened. I wanted to tell you, but she said you would never forgive her so we needed to take it to the grave.”
Never forgive her when my brother kissed her?
“And I thought I could do that . . . until every time I had to look at you. I was a stupid asshole, and I would give anything to take it back. Hand to God, I feel like fucking shit—”
“Don’t you dare bring him into this.”
“Con, I truly feel horrible for what happened. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. I can barely breathe. I’ve never felt so shitty for anything I’ve ever done in my life.”
“Well, you can continue to feel terrible, because I don’t forgive you.”
His shoulders dropped at the blow. “Con—”
“I was going to ask her to marry me. Still haven’t paid off the damn ring.”
He took a step back, truly looking horror struck, like he might vomit in the middle of the living room. “Oh Jesus . . .” He cupped his mouth with his hand before he covered his eyes. It didn’t look like a performance but a true reaction.
“And now it’s over.” Just like that. Done.
“Con, come on.” He dropped his hand. “She didn’t do anything wrong.”
“What she did was worse than what you did.”
He took a few steps toward me. “No, no, no. Do not throw this away because of what I did.”
“She lied to me, Edric. And she told you to lie to me.”
“Because she was scared how you would react. Scared you wouldn’t forgive her. Scared it would destroy our relationship—”
“I don’t care what the reasons were,” I barked. “If she’d just come to me, I would have broken your nose and your arm and dropped you off at the hospital, and we would have moved on. But she fucking lied to me. The one person I’m supposed to trust without question fucking lied to me.”
“Con, I get you’re upset right now, but dumping Isabella is not the answer.”
“That’s not the kind of woman I want to marry.”
“You love her.”
“And I’ll probably always love her, but we’re done.”
“You’re reacting exactly the way she was afraid you would react.”
“I told her all I want in a relationship is honesty. Instead of giving that to me, she lied to me and told you to lie to me. When I saw you two together multiple times, not once did I assume either of you would betray me. When Antonio suggested it, I told him to fuck off. That was how unwavering my trust was in both of you. But knowing you two were playing me like a damn fool . . .” I shook my head, humiliated that I’d put my trust in the wrong person.
“Honestly, if you two hooked up and she told me about it right away and begged for my forgiveness, I probably could have moved forward because that’s how much I love that girl. But this . . . no.”
“Con, come on.”
“No.”
“Don’t throw away the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”
“She was the best thing that ever happened to me. Now she’s the worst.”
I didn’t need to confront Isabella, not when Edric told her everything and she came straight to my apartment.
I’d been sitting there for an hour, ice over my knuckles, watching the light change as the shadows shifted in the living room.
She pounded on my front door. “Con!”
“It’s open.” I dreaded the conversation because I’d already had it in my head, so it would feel like a repeat. She’d beg for me to stay, sob until she couldn’t breathe, get on her knees and plead—and it wouldn’t change anything.
She burst inside with a look of sheer panic that masked her beauty. “I didn’t know what to do—”
“Tell the truth. That’s always the right answer.”
“I—I didn’t know how you’d react.”
“Then you obviously don’t know me very well.” I tossed the bag of ice on the table and stood up, making her take a step back. “You really think if you’d told me what happened, I’d leave?”
“I—I didn’t know—”
“I think the real reason you didn’t tell me is because you felt something.”
She turned pale, as if she lived in the Arctic Circle instead of the Mediterranean.
“And you were afraid I’d pick up on it—which I would have and which I already have.”
Still in shock at what I’d said but also pained by the truth, she took another step back. “Con—”
“I would have understood, Isabella. We’re twins. Most people can’t tell us apart. How can you be attracted to me and not him?”
“You look the same, but you’re nothing alike.”
“But you still felt something when he kissed you—when you thought he was me—and I would have understood. I wouldn’t have liked it, and I would have been livid about it for a while, but I would have understood.
But lying to me and choosing to lie to me for the rest of our lives . . . that’s just fucked up.”
“I’m sorry.” She started to get teary. “I’m so fucking sorry. I was scared and I panicked and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to ruin your relationship with your brother. I didn’t want to risk losing you. I had so much more to lose by telling you than not telling you.”
“When we were at Daiquiri, I asked both of you what was going on—and you lied to me.” I slammed my fist into my chest. “To my fucking face.”
“I’m sorry—”
“I heard you the first time, and I don’t care.
You let me walk around looking like a fool.
You should have heard me when Antonio suggested you were fucking around with my brother.
I nearly punched him in the face. Now I owe him a big fucking apology because he was right on the money and I was too fucking dumb to see it. ”
“I did not fuck around with your brother.”
“The fact that you both lied about what happened and continued what I can only describe as an emotional affair feels like you did.”
“We did not have an emotional affair.”
“I saw you stare at each other across the room. I saw you together on the patio. It doesn’t matter that you were three feet apart. Something happened between you two, and you continued it right in front of me. You took advantage of my trust and mistook it for stupidity.”
“I never thought you were stupid—”
“We’re done, Isabella.” We could go around and around, but no amount of arguing would change the facts.
“No . . .” The tears came so fast, it was as if they’d been there the entire time. “Con, no. I love you.”
“And I fucking love you, but that doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It always matters.”
“I took a loan out on the ring so I could ask you to marry me—and while I was doing that, you two were sneaking off together or texting when I wasn’t around. God, I feel like the biggest idiot alive.”
This was obviously a surprise to her, because she gasped like I’d punched her in the stomach.
“It wasn’t like that, I swear. Con, please don’t do this.
” She brought her hands together like she was about to kneel and pray.
“We’re meant to be together. I’ve known it since we were kids. Please, don’t ruin this.”
“I didn’t ruin it, Isabella. You did.”
“I didn’t cheat on you.”
“You lied directly and by omission. You lied and lied and lied and would have taken that fucking lie to the grave buried beside me. I’d roll over in my coffin if I’d known who I’d married.
Who’d mothered my children. Someone who could keep a secret of this magnitude from me. Who the fuck does that?”
She sobbed her heart out. Released a flood of tears that should run her ducts dry. She moved into me and grabbed on to my arm like it was a life raft and she was lost out at sea. “No. You’re the love of my life. Please, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll never keep anything from you again.”
I pulled away from her grasp as gently as I could. I didn’t want to be touched by the person who’d ripped out my heart. Just because I didn’t shed a tear didn’t mean I wasn’t fucking devastated. “It’s done.”
“Give me another chance.” She latched on to me again.
I continued to step out of her hold. “You should go.”
“No!” Now she screamed, falling to her knees at my feet.
“Please don’t do this to me, please don’t do this to me, don’t do this to us .
. .” It was an ugly sob, her face so beet red it was like she’d run a marathon.
A thick vein popped in her forehead I’d never seen before.
She was always calm and collected, but she’d completely lost her mind.
I knew she wasn’t going to leave.
So I had to go.
I felt her try to grab me again as I walked past her, but I forced myself forward and onward, moving for the door, doing my best to drown out the sound of her cries and walk out.