Secret (Betrothed Book 9)

by Penelope Sky

  “I know he’s done terrible things. But he didn’t directly take Anna. He didn’t directly break in to your house. He was an accomplice to all that, and now that all of that is in the past…I’d like it if you could let it go. And the money you pay him… It’s just money.” As I heard myself speak, I realized how much I was asking of him, to release a year of vendettas.

  He straightened in the chair, his hands moving to the surface of the table. His elbows planted, and his fingers interlocked in front of his lips, his eyes still on me, still not blinking. He stared for a long time, his hostility low but potent. He lowered his hands. “Last week, he came to collect his payment…and told me it was the last time he would do so.” He shook his head slightly. “I knew it was odd. I knew I was missing something. And now it all makes sense.” His fingers returned to his lips, and he stared at me again, the cogs in his brain working. “And the last time he came, everything went according to plan…until something changed. My snipers were ready to take him out, but on the camera feed, it showed he got a phone call…that was you who called. You eavesdropped on my conversation and told him everything.”

  I refused to lie about it, but I didn’t confess to it either. I’d suspected he would piece everything together after I came clean, so I wasn’t surprised he came to that conclusion so quickly. He was a smart man.

  “That was why he didn’t kill me.”

  I had no idea that Heath had let my brother off the hook, that he stopped collecting payment. There was only one reason why he would do that. I just didn’t understand why Heath didn’t tell me. “If he’s stopped collecting payment from you and the past is in the past, I’d like it if you could let this go. I know it’s a lot to ask, Damien. But I wouldn’t be asking you to do this for me unless it was important to me.” I had to put faith in my brother’s love for me, to hope that love was stronger than his hate.

  He leaned back in the chair, his gaze moving out the window while the same stoic expression was burned into his face. His green eyes reflected the sunlight, and the tightness of his jaw indicated the way he ground his teeth together.

  “Damien…please.”

  He eventually turned back to me, taking a deep breath. “No.”

  I closed my eyes and felt utterly defeated.

  “I can let go of most of the shit he’s done—but not all. But I despise a man who’s not honest about who he is, who doesn’t come clean to the woman he’s sleeping with about the shit he’s really done. I know you don’t know everything, because if you did, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now. You’d want nothing to do with him.”

  Adrenaline dumped into my blood, and my chest started to rise higher, to suck in all the oxygen that my brain suddenly needed. I thought I was the one catching Damien off guard, but it was the other way around.

  And I was scared.

  His eyes narrowed, like he was disappointed in me. “He lied to you. He tricked you. Now, you’re sitting in front of me, fighting for a man you don’t even know. It’s fucking humiliating. I’m humiliated for you.”

  My breathing continued to speed up. “What did he do?”

  His furious eyes burned into mine. “When I refused to pay him, he took someone very special to me, took someone to execute. You know who that was?”

  Hades? Anna?

  “Dad.”

  My heart fell.

  “He took him to another location and intended to shoot him in the back of the head—to punish me. You want to know the only reason that didn’t happen?”

  Oh my god.

  “It was because Hades got there first. Hades got there, killed the guard, and saved Dad’s life.” He leaned forward. “Dad would be dead right now if I didn’t make the right calls. Heath would have executed an innocent old man.” He fell back into the chair. “If you wanted to be with someone like me, I wouldn’t give a damn. Not all criminals are evil. I don’t hurt innocent people, and I don’t kill cops. I stay in my world and never cross that line.” His hand straightened and fell onto the table, mimicking a line with his straight fingers. “But that motherfucker crossed the line. He doesn’t stay in his lane. He tried to murder a harmless, sweet man—for money. No, I’ll never let that go. I’ll never forget that he nearly killed my father. I’ll never forgive, never forget. And now that you know the truth, you’ll see what he really is—and dump his ass.” His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked in mine. “He played you like a fool, Catalina.”

  I did my best not to cry, but the truth was so overwhelming. The idea of someone doing that to my father, my best friend, made me so sick that I couldn’t keep my lunch down. And the fact that it was Heath who did it, who fucked me without telling me the truth, who omitted that critical piece of information from me…made me feel as stupid as Damien had predicted I would.

  “You betrayed your own brother—for him.” His hand rested on the table, tightening into a fist. “You betrayed your own family. That’s not you, but he got into your head and turned you into a disloyal, stupid girl.”

  Tears splashed down my cheeks.

  But my brother gave me no pity. “I’m gonna kill him for what he did to our father. I don’t care if he stops collecting my cash. I don’t care if he apologizes. I don’t care if he steps down as the Skull King and gives me every coin to his name. He. Crossed. The. Line.” He slammed his fist onto the table, bringing his speech to a close.

  I held my breath so I would stop crying, but that only halted it for a few seconds. My chest started to rock, like water slamming into the doors of a dam. The doors flung open and my tears spilled out, turning into soul-crushing sobs. I covered my face because I couldn’t stand the way my brother looked at me, as if he’d never been so disappointed in me, as if he didn’t even know me anymore, as if he’d lost all respect for me.

  I couldn’t stop crying.

  I couldn’t stop the pain.

  When I pulled my hands away from my face, I saw Damien looking out the window, indifferent to my tears. He didn’t want to touch me, didn’t want to comfort me. He was disgusted by my betrayal.

  I’d chosen Heath over my brother, and it’d all been for nothing,

  Heath lied to me…and destroyed me.

  Eleven

  Heath

  I parked the truck in the garage and noticed her car wasn’t there. I was two hours later than I said I would be, so I hoped she didn’t grow impatient and leave. There was a well-stocked fridge and pantry, along with a huge tub for her to take a bubble bath, so she had lots of reasons to stay—even if I weren’t there.

  I was disappointed.

  I’d been looking forward to this moment all day, as if I hadn’t slept over last night, as if I hadn’t been with her just eight hours ago.

  I took the stairs to the next level.

  When I rose to the top, I saw her.

  She stood on the other side of my kitchen island, her arms across her chest, her eyes furious.

  The energy in the room was different, so unusual I couldn’t even describe it. It was sunny outside but a hailstorm on the inside. She was still, but her energy twisted around like a tornado. And the way she looked at me…with blinding fury.

  I halted as I stared at her, immediately detecting every hint of her rage.

  She started to breathe hard, her chest rising and falling as she sucked in more air to prepare her for whatever her intentions were. Her eyes were wide open and coated in moisture, but not from tears, just emotional rage.

  I stepped farther inside. “Baby—”

  “Don’t ever call me that again.” The words tumbled out of her mouth like a somersault, quickly unfurling without taking a breath. There was a wooden block of knives in front of her, like she wanted to stay close so she could grab a blade if she needed it.

  This wasn’t the kind of reaction she’d given in the past when she lost her mind to hysterical jealousy. She wouldn’t stand that far away from me. She wouldn’t wait in my house until I got home to speak her mind. She would ignore me until I came af
ter her.

  That meant something else had happened.

  It took me only a few seconds to figure it out. She knew.

  She fucking knew.

  I stepped closer to her, my eyes locked on hers. “Catalina—”

  “Damien told me everything!” she shouted, her yells making the walls vibrate the way mine did. “How fucking dare you? How fucking dare you touch my father? What the hell is wrong with you?”

  When I’d pulled into the garage just minutes ago, my life was different. I was happy, coming home to the woman who took full occupation of my life. But now it felt like an eternity had passed…like it was a whole different lifetime. Even though I was about to lose everything, I stayed calm. “That was a long time ago—”

  “And that makes it okay?” she hissed. “You lied to me, Heath. You fucked me and lied to me. You used me. You humiliated me.” Tears started to streak down my cheeks. “Do you have any idea how fucking stupid I looked, asking my brother to put aside your differences so I could be with you? Then he told me that…and I sat there like a fucking dumbass.”

  “You weren’t supposed to tell him—”

  “So you could keep screwing me?” The tears made streams down her cheeks and dripped to her chin, ruining her makeup along the way. “Was this another part of your vengeance? To screw his sister to stick it to him?”

  That was fucking offensive. “No. But if you were really going to talk to him about it, I would have come clean and explained why you couldn’t do that. You didn’t talk to me. You didn’t include me in the discussion.”

  “He’s my brother. I don’t have to include you in the discussion.”

  “But I’m in this relationship with you.”

  “Relationship?” Now, her voice turned quiet, like I’d said something that stabbed her in the gut. “This was never a relationship. How could you give it that description when you didn’t tell me what you did? And you were obviously never going to.”

  I didn’t lie about it. “No…I wasn’t going to.”

  Her eyes widened like she couldn’t believe I’d actually said it. “Wow…you’re evil.” Her palms moved to her face, and she gave a hysterical laugh packed with emotion before she dropped her hands, fresh tears on her face. “God, I’m so fucking stupid…”

  “This is why I wasn’t going to tell you. Because I knew you would never get past it.”

  “Damn right!” She threw her arms down. “How can you sleep at night? How can you be with a woman and look her in the eye every night while knowing she would never even touch you if she knew the truth?” It was a rhetorical question, cutting deep.

  “Because neither one of us expected it to turn into this, Catalina.” I came closer to her so we wouldn’t have to scream at each other from opposite sides of the kitchen. “I thought we would last a few weeks then forget about each other. I thought we would mean nothing to each other, that you would be another notch on my bedpost, as I would be on yours. And the longer it went on, the more difficult it became to confess. Because every time I thought about it, I knew what your reaction would be, that you would never forgive me. So, I didn’t tell you…in order to keep you as long as possible.”

  She shook her head, her expression filled with disgust.

  “For the first time in my life, I’m happy…and I didn’t want to lose that.” I put all my cards on the table, aimed for the stars even though there was no chance I could fix this.

  “And you chose your own happiness over mine. Now, I have to live with this, to watch Damien look at me with disgust, to be with my father and know what my lover had intended to do to him. I have to live with this.” She slammed both of her palms against her chest. “You lied to me. You tricked me—”

  “And you were just as happy as I was, Catalina.”

  Her eyes narrowed and she stepped back. “You’re an asshole, Heath. I don’t mean that playfully anymore. I mean that literally. You were the man I trusted most in the world, and you betrayed me. After all that bullshit about needing to trust you…you were lying to my face.” She shook her head again. “I hate you. I fucking hate you.” Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes before they fell.

  That hurt…really fucking bad. “No, you don’t.”

  “Oh, trust me, I do.”

  “Catalina—”

  “I betrayed my own brother for you. I made that phone call when I should have kept my mouth shut. And if I’d known all the facts, I would have let him kill you. I regret that now…will have to live with that regret for the rest of my life.”

  I took a deep breath as her words hit me like a thousand blades. “I would take it back if I could, alright? And that’s not who I am anymore. Let’s not forget I released you from that cage when I didn’t have to. The night we met, I changed. I didn’t even know you, and I changed for you. I rescued you from that basement and freed all those women—”

  “Because I told you to.”

  “But then I banned the practice throughout the entire country.” I slammed my hand into my chest. “Because I wanted to. Because just the idea of that shit happening makes me sick to my stomach. Look, I’m different now. Don’t hate me for something I did before I even knew you. Catalina, come on—”

  “Fuck you, Heath.”

  “I know I should have told you the truth, but if I had, I would have lost you—”

  “Then what was your brilliant plan?” she snapped. “To never tell me, to keep making excuses? For how long?”

  “Years…if I could manage it.”

  She shook her head again.

  “You told me you didn’t want a husband until you were thirty, so I didn’t see the harm in wasting your time.”

  She stared at me with disgust. “Didn’t see the harm?”

  “I know it’s terrible. I know it’s wrong. I know how fucking terrible it sounds as I say it out loud. But I fell in love with you…and I wanted to do everything possible to keep you, to hold on to that as long as I could.”

  Her breathing stopped altogether, even her tears halted on her cheeks, as if gravity lost all its force. “What?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t play that game.”

  “Game?”

  “Don’t act like you didn’t know I was madly in love with you. You’re too fucking smart for that. You know we stopped fucking a long time ago, that we’ve been making love ever since. You think I’m growing flowers for you because I think you have a nice ass?” I asked incredulously. “You think I get jealous of that short-shit director because you’re just some woman I’m sleeping with? You think you’re the only person who has the key and code to my private home because you get my dick wet? Come on, Catalina. Knock that shit off.”

  She breathed hard, her arms crossing over her chest. “You promised me…”

  I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Well, you fell in love with me first.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “When you called me and warned me about Damien. That was the moment I knew.”

  She shut her mouth tightly, and this time, she averted her gaze, like she couldn’t confront reality. It was too traumatic. “You promised me, Heath.”

  “Don’t expect me to feel bad about it. Because I don’t.” I stared at her twelve feet away from me, devastatingly beautiful with those tears making her eyes wet and her cheeks red. Women never looked attractive like that, but she was irresistible.

  She put her fingers under her eyes and wiped up her makeup, even though that wouldn’t make much of a difference because the damage had been done.

  “I will do anything to make this work. I’ll apologize to Damien. I’ll apologize to your father. Anything you want.”

  She turned back to me, her eyes cold. “You think an apology is going to fix everything? You literally tried to kill my father. He would be dead right now if Damien hadn’t protected him. I would have no parents right now—because of you.” She pointed her finger at me. “And you think an apology is going to make that go away?”
<
br />   I already knew I’d lost her—and it fucking hurt.

  “In case you haven’t noticed, my father is my best fucking friend.”

  “Yeah…I noticed.” Another reason I’d kept my mouth shut.

  “So, no, Heath. An apology doesn’t change anything. I will never look at you the same…”

  “Love is much stronger than hate, Catalina.” I stepped closer to her.

  She shook her head, her eyes furious. “It was never love, Heath. You can’t fall in love with someone you don’t know.”

  “You do know me.” My hand moved over my chest. “Everything between us, it was all real.”

  “I hate you,” she snapped. “I hate you…” She continued to say the phrase, backing away from me, staring at me like she meant it. “I thought I was crazy, told myself it was a stupid superstitious belief, but it was the truth. I should have taken it seriously. I should have listened…and that’s my biggest regret.”

  I vaguely remembered her mentioning this when we first got together, when she made me promise not to fall in love with her. She never elaborated and never mentioned it again. “Take what seriously?”

  She backed up farther, staring at me with ferocity. “Hades and Damien went to Marrakech a long time ago. A gypsy read their fortune, said they would fall in love, but it would be painful. Neither one of them believed it, until everything she said came true. So, I visited the same gypsy with Damien a while ago, when he asked her for help with Anna. She told me my fortune.”

  Did she really believe that bullshit?

  “She said I would only fall in love once, and he would be an enemy to my family.” She looked into my eyes as if she identified me as that man. “That was why I told you not to fall in love with me, because I was afraid it was true. And it was. That’s why I’ve never tried to fall in love, never stayed with a man long enough for it to happen because I knew it wasn’t possible. And when I did find a man to marry, it would be based on friendship, trust, and compatibility. Now…I know it’s true. That’s why I turned you down so many times, until you wore me down. The prophecy was true…”