Chapter 5
He wanted to throttle her. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to throw her over his shoulder, carry her into the house and make love to her. But he wouldn’t do any of that until he got some answers.
She stomped back into the house and whirled to face him. “You know I have another set of keys, Will.”
He marched over to where her extra set of keys were and yanked them from the hook on the wall. In one swift motion, he chucked them down the garbage disposal and flipped the switch. His heart was being chewed to pieces just like the metal in the sink.
Her bag hit the floor, and she stood with her mouth ajar. “What has gotten into you?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’ve gone a little crazy because my fiancée ran out of our rehearsal dinner without so much as a kiss my ass, and then I find her with a go-bag packed like she’s in the witness protection program.” He furrowed his brow. “Are you in the witness protection program?”
“No. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Oh, I’m ridiculous? I’m not the one running away with no explanation.” He pulled out a chair from the kitchen table. “Sit.”
She sat.
“Talk.” Nausea shot through his gut at the desolate look on her face. He softened his tone. “Were you really leaving me?”
She wiped a tear before it dropped onto her cheek and nodded.
Good thing he was leaning against the counter or he’d have fallen to the ground. His worst fear had come true. She was leaving because he wasn’t enough. He wasn’t what she wanted.
“Tell me what I’ve done and I’ll make it right.”
Her head shot up and wild eyes stared back at him. “You haven’t done anything. Nothing. You’re perfect, and that’s why I have to leave.”
“Perfect. Is that another word for boring?” All the times he’d been called perfect by his siblings, his friends, old girlfriends flipped through his head. Not once had it ever been meant as a compliment.”
“No—”
“Because I can change. I have changed. Our honeymoon – I was going to surprise you – we’re couch surfing through Europe, Paige.”
He’d planned her dream vacation. This only proved her point. “Will…”
“I know it’s something you’ve wanted to do and I thought, why not now?”
“You would hate that.” She wiped her face with the back of her hands. “All those strangers and strange houses.”
“No, I wouldn’t, because I’d be with you. Don’t you understand? I can do anything with you by my side.”
How wasit possible for her heart to grow two sizes and break at the same time? He deserved the truth and the only way she was going to be able to tell it was to just say it.
“I ran away from my family when I was seventeen.”
“What?”
She dropped her head into her hands. “I haven’t seen my family in ten years.”
“But you said you went to visit them at Christmas.”
Through the veil of her hair she peeked up at him. “I lied. I stayed in a hotel in Austin for two days.”
The lie had burned a hole in her throat, but he kept pushing and asking if she didn’t want to see her family for the holidays. So she’d fabricated the trip.
He pulled out the other kitchen chair and dropped into it. “Why, Paige? I don’t understand any of this.”
“My parents, my siblings, every member of my family are grifters, Will. I was raised by con artists to be a con artist.”
He didn’t say anything, but his deer-in-headlights expression said it all.
“That’s what I am and who”d planned to marry.” Shame covered her like a putrid wet blanket. She dropped her gaze to her lap.
“Start at the beginning, and don’t stop until I understand why you’ve lied to me our whole relationship.”
“I was born Raven Rohan. I’m the oldest daughter of Richard and Gloria Rohan and the middle sister to Rick and Angelique. I’ve never had a home until now. I ran away from them when I was seventeen.”
“Why did you run?”
She picked at the frayed end of the placemat on the table. “So many reasons. I was picking pockets by the time I was six, but I wasn’t as good at it as Angelique. She is the pickpocket queen.”
“That’s why you wouldn’t let her touch me?”
Fire burned her from the inside out when she thought of her sister putting her hands on him. “Yes. Angelique and I were bitterly competitive, always trying to one-up each other and gain our father’s approval. My specialty was the con itself. I was more than good at it. I was the best.”
Her elbows went to the table, and she dropped her head in her hands then smoothed her hair from her face.
“When I was seventeen my parents wanted to form an alliance with a mob boss out of Jersey City, so they arranged our marriage. He was forty-five. I was expected to marry him without argument for the good of the family. That, in combination with how aggressive mine and Angelique’s rivalry had gotten, is why I ran.”
He slumped back in the chair. “How did you survive?”
She smoothed her thumb over the diamonds in her engagement ring. “If nothing else, my parents did equip me for survival. I had some money stashed away, but the rest…”
“You stole.”
“More like convinced people to give me money. It’s what we do.” And she’d done it well, too well.
“How did you pay for college? Or was that a lie too?
“No, that’s not a lie.” The angry growl in her voice was uncontrollable. She’d slaved long hours and done without to get her education. Heat boiled up the back of her neck, but she tamped it down. After the way she’d deceived him, he had the right to doubt her. And that was the hardest part to face.
“I worked. I stopped conning as soon as I could get on my feet. That’s no excuse, I know, but that’s how it was. But I did use the powers of persuasion I learned from grifting to get into college. I had no formal education, other than the infrequent stints when we’d live in one place long enough to be enrolled in school.”
He went to the fridge and retrieved two beers. He handed her one and popped the top on his, downed it in one swig, then got another.
“I know. It’s a lot to take in.” Pity for him overwhelmed her. To find out your fiancée, the woman you trusted above all others, was a liar and a thief was more than anyone should have to go through.
She grabbed her bag from the floor and rose. “I’ll go?—”
“Sit. Down.”
She sat.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Graduate school? How did you manage that?”
“What I told you about that is true. After my sophomore year of college, I had enough scholarships and grants to pay for my undergraduate degree. The same with graduate school. I worked at night and on the weekends to pay for my living expenses.”
“And the job as the director of the Women’s Center?”
“I got legitimately.”
“Why that job?”
She shrugged. “I knew when I went to school that I wanted to get a job where I could help people. I can’t stand the sight of blood so being a doctor or nurse wasn’t an option, but I thought social work would put me in touch with people who could use my help.” She opened her beer and took a pull. “I don’t know, my family had done so much harm maybe I felt it was my responsibility to try and do some good in the world.” She tipped the bottle back and forth, watching the liquid through the amber glass. “Stupid, I know.”
He chucked both his bottles in the recycle bin and scrubbed his hands down his face. “So let me see if I’ve got this right. You grew up learning to run cons on people, steal, and lie. Your family basically sold you to a depraved low-life when you were still a minor, you ran from that lifestyle, but it took you a while to leave it completely, and you worked your ass off in school to get a degree you knew didn’t pay much in order to help as many people as possible to atone for the sins of your family. Have I got that right?”
“Yes, but you make it sound nobler than it is.” He didn’t know half the things she’d done. She didn’t deserve his forgiveness. She’d never be able to forgive herself.
“Oh, I’m not trying to sugarcoat this. Because there’s more. You’ve lied to me since day one, repeatedly. Correct?”
She couldn’t meet his eyes. “Yes.”
“Was I a con? Has this all been a lie?” The fear and insecurity wrapped around those questions sliced through her.
Her head jerked up and she met his unsure gaze and held it. “No, Will. Not ever.” Emotion and sincerity coated every word. She had to make him understand.
“So, you’re running out on our wedding to – what? Get away from me? Because your past has caught up with you? You’re a coward? Help me out here, Paige.”
“My family is here because they say I still owe them since I ran and didn’t keep my end of the bargain. That alliance would’ve made them a lot of money and given them power. They’ve decided that having a senator and a DA in their pockets will repay my debt to them nicely. I won’t put you or your family through that. In fact, they’re probably laying the groundwork for a hustle right this minute.”
That horrible thought shot her from her chair. “Will, you need to get back to the country club and protect your family.”
“My family can take care of themselves. I knew something was up when you left so I told them to be on alert. Besides, Natalie and Roxanne had all of your relatives occupied when I left.”
“Okay. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m poison to you and your family. For heaven’s sake, Will, you invited a bunch of criminals to your rehearsal dinner. You’re the DA.”
“Have they broken any laws in Blister County?”
“What?”
“Have they broken any laws here?”
“I don’t know. Not that I know of, but it’s only a matter of time.”
He moved to her and smoothed his hand down her hair then took her face in his hands. “Then we’ll deal with that together. I’m not giving you up because you have a shitty family. You’re exactly the same woman I fell in love with, and I still choose you.”
“But, Will?—“
“I. Still. Choose. You.”
A sob erupted from her throat. He still wanted her. She leaned her head into his hand. “I’m so sorry I lied.”
“I know, and I’m not happy about it, but I understand why you did it. You’re not responsible for the actions of your family, Paige.” He took her face in his hand and made her look at him. “No more lies.”
“No more lies.”
“I know we said we were going to spend tonight apart. But I need you.”
She stood and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I need you too.”
In one swift motion, he swept her off her feet and carried her upstairs.