26. Maeve
CHAPTER 26
MAEVE
For someone who hates me, Diego fucks me like he loves me. My arms stay wrapped around his neck as I stare at him. I don’t believe a word he says, and I would be stupid to, but tell that to my heart that hopes more than anything that the suffering is finally going to end.
I brush the dirt off my skin, looking around for my stuff. My donuts are ruined. The box is opened with all the contents spilled over the sidewalk. I almost consider blowing the dirt away and eating them, but it’s been over five seconds, which seems desperate. I point at my donuts on the ground.
“That was rude and unnecessary.”
“Yeah,” he agrees with a shrug, much to my shock. “Come on, I’ll get you new ones. You said you wanted cake when we got married. We could even get you cake if you wanted.”
“Are you serious?”
“Come on,” he says with a drudging tone. “I ruined your donuts.”
He wraps an arm around my shoulders, and while I don’t trust anything about this situation, butterflies thrill through me at his gentle touch. Is he really going to buy me cake? I’ve never been more excited, which is insane, given I’m more than capable of getting my own, but it seems romantic coming from him.
We step out of the alley and onto the sidewalk. The bakery is just a little ways down, and I’m already listing the flavors of cake I’m dying to try. Diego stands slightly in front of me, so I don’t immediately see the man blocking our path, and he doesn’t see me either.
“Boss, they moved a couple of blocks south. I just got signal?—”
The man looks me dead in the eyes as Diego shifts slightly. His cheeks redden, and his mouth opens in an obvious “oh shit” expression. Diego’s fist tightens, his eyes screaming.
Boss.
The man is built like a tank, his unique features sharp and dark. He looks like he just saw a ghost, and that’s me. I recognize him too, instantly, and a sharp spike of fear runs down my spine. He’s closer now than that first day when I saw him crossing the street to follow me, but the distance doesn’t change anything. This is him. I’d remember the man who chased me into Diego’s arms anywhere.
He called Diego boss. My eyes go to my husband at the same time the man’s do, both of us looking at him to take the lead.
Diego’s anger is palpable, but all he says is, “Go.”
The command is matched with instant compliance, but I won’t let that happen. Chasing the motherfucker who ruined my life, I don’t have a plan other than to hurt him. Because of our encounter, I ended up where I am now. It’s his sick smile that made me run straight into the arms of…
The truth is too hard to face. I can’t think of the words.
Diego grabs me around the waist, stopping my pursuit. My eyes drop to Diego’s forearm, the myriad of tattoos, the harsh C tattooed among them. I never thought to ask what it meant. There were just too many tattoos to think too long about a single letter. C could have been an ex.
“He called you boss,” I whisper, but even with the noise of the busy street beside us, we both hear it.
The scene replays in my mind. All the strange things he’s said and done to me suddenly add up to a horrifying picture. This is so much worse than I thought, worse than a cruel ex-stepbrother who wanted to torture me and make my father pay for his mother’s suffering.
This wasn’t a chance. He was the engineer.
“You’re Cygnus.”
He releases my stomach and lets me turn to him now that his man has run off. None of his other employees will be stupid enough to get in his way. I stare at him, accusing him with my eyes and begging for answers. What the hell did I ever do to deserve all this? Why would he go so far out of his way to ruin me like this?
“It’s been obvious for a while now, Maeve. You just haven’t been paying attention.”
He promised that today was the end of his torture, but that was a lie. This is so much worse. There was never any level of truth to this. He didn’t just prey on me; he lured me in. The news slams into my chest, and suddenly, there’s not enough air. Were there signs?
Some, I have to admit, but even if I thought he was a criminal, I didn’t think he could have that kind of power and be able to tell that deep of a lie. I’ve underestimated him on every level. I take one step back from him, and mercifully, he allows me the space. I touch my neck, trying to breathe, but I carry his name there, and it’s going to suffocate me.
“This was all a plan.” I shake from head to toe, suddenly cold and needing to hug my knees and curl into a ball.
“I told you I made it my job to know you. I watched you for years. I waited while you played car thief and started dipping into my territory.”
“Why wouldn’t you just stop me? Why would you let me steal from you?” He could have killed me and been done with this a long time ago. Killing my father’s only child has to be some level of revenge, a mother for a daughter?
“It was easy enough to have Havoc point you in the required direction while I worked on arranging everything.”
“Fucking Havoc knew he was fucking me over too?”
“Yeah, Maeve. Are you surprised you don’t have a lot of friends?”
“No, but I’m surprised you do.” I’m aiming to hurt him. I wish there was a way I could dig my own knife into him as he keeps doing to me again and again.
Diego arches an eyebrow, showing very little patience. “Everyone in this town works for me.”
“I-I…” I hold on to my head, massaging my temple.
“You should be thankful it was me pulling the strings. It’s the only reason you’re not dead right now!”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I demand. He’s the danger.
“If I didn’t have plans for you, you’d be in the ground by now. What were you thinking, Maeve? You’re a ballerina. You have no business running in these circles.”
He pokes at my shame so well. My cheeks warm, and I’m nothing but a stupid, silly girl. Just a ballerina. He’s been pulling my strings the whole time. I willingly played with fire, thinking I could handle it when I was being burned.
“I don’t understand the marriage… Why? How did you get me there?”
Maybe I’m just slow today, but I don’t understand how he could have led me to knock on his door that day. It was an impulse decision to reach out to Miss Angie. I was scared and alone, and I ended up doing something I wanted to do for a long time. How could he plan that?
His eyes change, and there’s an evil gleam I’ve never noticed before. How did I not see how fucked up and broken he really is? Why did I think there was a chance I could fix him? And that’s the truth. I let myself believe he was just hurt and broken, and there was something good in him to save. I was wrong.
“That wasn’t planned. Not in a fucking million years did I think you would run to my mother when you were scared.”
“You chased me.”
“They were going to corner and kidnap you, Maeve, but you made that unnecessary. You lost them, and I was having a very bad night until you knocked on my door, and instead offered yourself on a silver platter. I never could have accounted for that.”
As I look at him, I’m seeing him for the very first time. He may look similar to her in some ways, but there is nothing of his kind mother in him. He’s a monster, and I would never run to him.
“Not your door,” I say.
He doesn’t know his mother was the only person I could ever trust to keep my secrets. I’ve lied about myself my whole life, and the first time I’m honest with myself, I end up in a trap. The shock wears off, and the fear settles in. Diego is the man I’ve been so scared of. He planned this whole thing from beginning to end, and I fell right into his game—except for the part where I escaped him and then offered myself right back. I’m sick.
I offered him my own life and throat so that he could protect me, but he was the very cause of the danger. He claims they would have killed me sooner without his intervention, but I don’t think that’s true. I think I would have gotten away.
Cygnus is Diego. My husband.
I want to fight. I want to cry. I want to kill him and paint his stupid car red, but I don’t do any of that.
I run.