Chapter 27 #2
“Perfect, since I could strangle you with my bare hands right now.” Anger oozes from every pore of her delicate skin, and I tighten my grip on our hands, which Javier takes note of and smiles wider.
Ignoring her, he turns his attention back to me. “I see my messages were successfully delivered. My condolences to your face.”
“I wear purple well,” I hiss, clenching my jaw. “What do you want?”
“Skipping dinner and going straight to dessert, then? Noted. I’ve come to inform my beautiful bride she has fulfilled her duties.
After your early departure from my father’s funeral, you, sweet girl, stirred quite the commotion within my family.
I had to confess to them all about our little arrangement. ”
Masking my features, I listen to everything he says, making mental notes in my mind to help compile anything I can use against him in court. Gone is the doting boyfriend—the fake fiancé—and in his place is another important role I play for Raina.
Her lawyer.
“What exactly did you tell them?” Raina asks carefully, quickly glancing at me.
“Everything. I did what you Americans call coming clean.” A smile plays on the bastard’s lips.
“Which. Was?” Raina’s words pack a lot of bite, but they’re enunciated slowly, and I can’t help but take notice of the nerves behind each one.
Javier’s smile widens further. Connecting his eyes with mine, he rubs his chin, a silent laugh shaking through his chest.
“Oh darling, I told them everything.” He waves his hand around playfully, like she already knows. A spike of uncertainty crawls through my veins. “I told them about the night we met—how you were a lovely date, and an easy lay, although that part I only told to my uncle and male cousins.”
A growl vibrates through me, and I take a step forward, ready to use my fists on this asshole if need be. “Watch your mouth and respect my fiancée, Moreno.”
He chuckles. “Ah, you mean your fake fiancée, Mr. Paladino. Are you her fake lawyer, too? I assume not, since your specialty is women seeking divorces. As I was saying, I confessed to our marriage being a fraud, admitting it was nothing more than an attempt on my part to make this transition easier for the family. They do not fault you for agreeing to the sham, Raina, although they are hurt about being lied to.”
All the air leaves my body as I process his words.
“You told them we were planning on getting a divorce and were only staying married for show?”
The way he intentionally worded his sentence—our marriage being a fraud—has alarm bells sounding in my mind.
Looking at me again, the pure delight on Javier’s face flashes as bright as a neon sign.
He laughs again, and this time, it sounds forced.
“No, I told them our secret, my love. That we were only pretending to be wed. That the marriage was nothing more than an elaborate scheme for both of us to get what we want.”
His eyes cut to me, full of malice.
The color drains from my face. I can feel it.
Beside me, Raina goes ramrod straight.
No.
Slowly, I turn to face her, and her look of despair tells me everything I need to know.
“This was all just a game,” I whisper, barely audible as I’m wrestling with a thousand emotions. “Your marriage wasn’t real. This was all an elaborate scheme.”
I release my hand from hers and take a step back, staring at my shoes as I try to process.
“What? No! Luce, I would never. This isn’t—” Raina grabs my face between her palms “—Luce, please look at me.”
My gaze connects with hers. Two rivers of tears track from her eyes.
“He’s lying. I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
Stepping back again, I pull from the hold she has on me and glance back at him. Javier watches me as though I’m his favorite TV show and raises an eyebrow, like he’s challenging me to…to what, I’m not even sure.
They played me.
And I’m a fucking fool for not even confirming the validity of the marriage.
Glancing back at Raina, she stands staring at me, muttering pleas my mind doesn’t hear, as tears stream down her cheeks. With both hands, I rake my fingers down my face, then turn to walk away.
At that same moment, it’s like a soundproof bubble around me pops, and Raina's screams and pleas rush me. She claws at my arms, matching each of my strides as I cross the roof back to the elevator.
“PLEASE, Luce, please stop. Listen to me! I don’t know what he’s talking about. He gave me the marriage certificate from France. I agreed to help him, but only for a divorce at the end. Please. I didn’t know he lied. He might still be lying!”
Shoving my finger into the call button, I pray the elevator doesn’t take long to arrive because I’m not sure I can control myself at this moment. I’m clutching tightly onto the last morsel of restraint I have, my heart so shattered and my head so confused, I don’t know which to trust.
“Luce, please. Please listen to me. I didn’t know.”
The final fragment of my heart breaks off.
I squeeze my eyes shut, replaying the question over and over for several seconds. Each time, my anger rises.
“The marriage was nothing more than an elaborate scheme for both of us to get what we want.”
She played me like a strategic poker match. And I fell right into her hand.
Fury trickles through me, and I can’t bring myself to look over at the man who’s partially caused it because I’m so embarrassed by myself for letting this happen.
For not doing my fucking job diligently enough where I could have avoided all of this.
“Why are you so upset with me?” Her voice cracks, knees buckling as she grips the front of my jacket.
Why are you so upset with me?
Why am I so upset with her?
“BECAUSE YOU MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU, RAINA! You made me fall so deep in fucking love, and the entire thing was just some sort of sick game. You’re a black widow. Lured me into your web just so you could eat me alive.”
“Luciano, you’ve known me for years, you know I wouldn’t.”
“Wouldn’t what, Raina? Lie to me? You have, several times over the years, in fact. Wouldn’t try to convince me to hop into your bed? You’ve also done that over the years. So why should I believe you didn’t see this as an opportunity to trick me into whatever the fuck this has been?”
“I didn’t! I swear,” she sobs, the look on her face one of absolute devastation.
But I’ve seen her acting skills firsthand while in Spain, and I don’t know what to believe.
“I need time to think.” My chest rises as intensely as my anger has, and I know I need to walk away before I say something I regret later.
I need clarity, and I’m sure as hell not going to find that on this rooftop when my heart is bleeding in the hands of the woman in front of me, while her husband-potentially-not-husband watches from a distance.
Pressing the call button again, the doors to the elevator open wide and I step inside, immediately hitting the button to close them.
Raina doesn’t try to stop me.
With a clenched jaw, I stare at her until she’s out of my view, and I let my eyes fall shut as the elevator descends.
Unfortunately for me, she’s still holding my heart in her hands back on that rooftop, even if it is completely broken.