Sebastian chuckled. “You’re full of questions, but I respect the fact that you’re gonna wait and ask King the rest.”

  I reached for the door handle and opened it. If I was going to wait, I had to get out of the truck.

  “You’re handling the engagement well. I thought it would bother you more.”

  I paused then and replayed what he’d just said in my head.

  Engagement? What engagement? Whose engagement?

  “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath when I finally glanced back at him.

  The way his brows were drawn together didn’t ease the slowly rising anxiety in my chest. Something wasn’t okay. I just didn’t want to reach out and grab the truth just yet.

  “Look, I thought he’d told you. When he left Scotlin at his house and came here last night, I thought he was coming to tell you.”

  Scotlin had stayed at his house? The house I hadn’t even known existed? A sick dread began to pool in my stomach.

  “What … what do you mean?” I choked out as my hand tightened its grip on the door.

  “It’s just a job.”

  “What is just a job?” I demanded this time.

  “The engagement. One of us had to do it, and King was the only one that made sense. With his and Scotlin’s history, it was believable.”

  I just sat there, staring straight ahead. Out into the yard that was lit with little lights buried in the ground. Was I understanding him correctly? Was he telling me that King was engaged to Scotlin? For a job? What kind of job was that?

  “I’m gonna be his damn punching bag for this,” Sebastian muttered.

  “I … I need to go inside,” I managed to say and grabbed my bag before getting down out of the truck.

  I had to get away from him, from everyone, and think this through. Take a moment. Revaluate everything I thought I had known. Again.

  “Rumor,” Sebastian called out. “Wait!”

  I did not wait. I kept walking. I had to get to that door. Get to the blue room and close myself away.

  “Rumor, please,” he added.

  I heard him jog up behind me.

  I shook my head. “I got enough information for one night.”

  “I thought you knew. I’m sorry. This isn’t something he wants to do. He has to. It’s to keep her safe. There is shit going down, and she has a stalker. That’s why he’s having to stay the night at his house with her now.”

  I stopped and placed a hand on my stomach as I inhaled sharply. That hit harder than I’d been ready for. They were together. At his house. Where his bed was. All night. He was protecting her. I’d seen her, and I knew without being told that she liked him. She hadn’t been able to keep her hands off him.

  What about me? He didn’t want to protect me anymore? He was choosing to be her protector now?

  “I’m making this worse,” he said.

  “I, uh … good night,” I replied and bolted for the door before he could say anything more to me.

  • Six •

  The night couldn’t fix the reality of the next day.

  Rumor

  Maeme met me at the door, and her face instantly tensed as she took a good look at me. When she let out a sigh and reached for my hand to pull me inside, I felt myself start to crumble. If she tried to make me talk about this right now, I was going to fall apart. I needed some time to process it all.

  “King’s gonna kill him,” she said with a shake of her head. “I need to go run interference. Go on up to the blue room and take a nice, long bubble bath. Don’t think about this.”

  If it were only that easy to put all I had learned from my mind. But I wanted to be alone, so I just nodded.

  She gave my hand a squeeze, then let it go. “I’ll bring you up something to eat soon.”

  There was no point. I had no appetite. “I’m not hungry,” I told her, walking toward the stairs.

  “Then, I’ll bring wine.”

  I didn’t turn that down. Perhaps enough of it would numb this pain.

  I was almost to the bedroom door when I heard Maeme’s voice demand, “What did you tell her?”

  I didn’t wait to listen to any more of the conversation and closed myself off inside. As I stared at the bed, my thoughts went to last night and all that I’d done with King on that bed. The sheets would smell like him. I closed my eyes and winced at the idea of having to sleep there.

  He was in a fake engagement to a gorgeous blonde he had history with. They were at his house, which I hadn’t even known about, and sleeping there. He was protecting her. Nothing about that could end well—at least for me. I had read this book before. Fake engagements, fake marriages, falling in love with the bodyguard. They had been some of my favorite romance tropes, but now … I hated them. All of them. Every single one.

  My eyes stung as I walked through the room, dropping my bag on the bed and then heading to the en suite. Slipping my hand into the pocket of my shorts, I pulled out the phone and laid it on the counter, then stared at myself in the mirror.

  The insults Hill had thrown at me all came rushing back. My top lip was too big, my hair too untamed, my skin too dark, my bottom teeth weren’t perfectly straight. I wasn’t stunning, like the women I’d seen with King. Like the woman in his house with him now. I knew I wasn’t ugly, but I had flaws. Enough that when put together, it made me very average.

  Perhaps if I had a good sense of humor, then it would make up for where I was lacking, but my personality was lacking, at best. I’d had so many horrors in my past that I wasn’t friendly. I didn’t look on the bright side of things. I didn’t even have a high school diploma. I had a GED. Turning eighteen and being kicked out of state care halfway through my senior year had caused me to have to drop out. So, I didn’t even have a proper education and intelligence to fill in the gaps.

  Scotlin was the kind of female that people expected King to be with. She was all the things I was not. She also knew him in ways that I didn’t. He’d taken her to his house. They had grown up together.

  Me, on the other hand? I didn’t even know his favorite color.

  There was a knock on my bedroom door before I heard it open.

  “I have the wine,” Maeme announced just before she appeared in the bathroom doorway.

  She held up an open bottle of red wine with a stemmed glass in the other. I watched as she sat it down then filled the glass more than halfway before sliding it over to me.

  “I’ll go run your bath water. Drink.”

  I didn’t argue. I took the glass and placed it to my lips. The cherry scent was one I was familiar with. Pinot noir had been Hill’s favorite wine.

  “I know Sebastian dropped the Scotlin stuff on you, just like I know what you were doing in here last night with King,” she said as she bent over the tub, feeling the water temperature. “I’m sorry you found out the way you did. I’m not blind, and I can tell you’ve got feelings for King. This all must be real confusing for you. You’ve taken in a lot of information the past two weeks.”

  She poured some pearly-colored liquid into the running water, then sprinkled in some bath salts before straightening and turning back to me.

  “I don’t like you being hurt and upset. You’ve had enough of that in your short life. So, I am telling you now that I love my grandson, but he ain’t the kind of man you need. You need the steady kind, the patient and romantic type of man. One who can erase all the ugly you’ve survived and give you nothing but good.”

  She walked over to me and wrapped her fingers around my arm gently. “The men in this family, they aren’t that. They can’t be. I was married to one. I raised two. It’s not a life meant for all of us. My Gabriel loved me just as fiercely as I loved him, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a hard marriage. We went through a lot. I wasn’t always happy. I’ve had to accept some hard things. And you …” She paused, then reached up to pat my cheek. “You’ve had all the dark you need to in this life. You need to find the happy. The light. The picket fence, children, husband who adores you. That’s what you deserve. Not more darkness.”

  I managed a nod. I didn’t say anything because I was afraid I’d let out a sob. Hearing her tell me this and realizing I’d been so wrapped up in King and how I felt with him that I hadn’t thought of the big picture. The one where he wasn’t interested in marriage and family. He enjoyed beating women who wanted it. He’d loved the little spanking he gave me.

  And not once had he even hinted that this was a long-term thing. There were no proclamations of love from him. He hadn’t lied about that. He’d made it clear that it was the sex he wanted from me. Never had he tried to bring me into his life more.

  The small things I should have known about him that I didn’t were made very apparent tonight.

  “I’m going to leave you with that bottle of my favorite wine and let you soak in the bath. Get some sleep. Tomorrow, things will be brighter. They always are.”

  I didn’t believe that because I knew for a fact that it wasn’t true. The night couldn’t fix the reality of the next day.

  “Good night,” I told her.

  “Good night, Rumor,” she replied, then left me there.

  I watched the water fill the tub as I drank from the glass in my hand.

  Before King, I had sworn off men. I said I would never put myself in a situation for another one to hurt me. Yet I had fallen so easily. It had taken very little effort on his part.

  No more. I was going to cry tonight, drink this wine, feel sorry for myself, but in the morning, I was done. With all men. I just needed me in this world. Relying on others was foolish. Even if they were as kind as Maeme. I had to learn to take care of me. No leaning on someone else.

  My phone buzzed, and I froze, not wanting to look down at it. I was planning my survival steps. Reading a text from King was not going to help me. Without looking at the screen, I turned off the phone and went and put it away in the closet. Out of sight. I didn’t need the temptation to turn it on and read what he had said. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

  The wine had helped me sleep. That was the one thing I could think of to be thankful for this morning. I hadn’t tossed and turned all night. Once I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and got dressed, I did feel somewhat better. Sure, if I allowed myself to dwell on things, I might burst into tears, but I was fighting it with all I had.

  Focus on the positive. I hadn’t woken up married to Hill. I wasn’t going to be beaten today. No more cracked ribs and busted lips. There were books waiting on me to read. I could eat whatever I wanted for breakfast. I didn’t have to step on a scale this morning to have my weight checked.

  That pep talk seemed to push back the ache enough for me to leave the bedroom and go face Maeme. I had thought about all she’d said while I soaked last night. The more I drank while in the hot water, the more my thoughts got foggy. The numbing started to take effect. That was when I had gotten out and gone directly to bed.

  I could smell breakfast before I even got to the bottom step. I listened for voices as I made my way in that direction. I heard no one, and the relief that came from that was instant. I didn’t want to face King today or tomorrow. Perhaps a week maybe. A month. Would that be enough time?

  What if he fell in love with Scotlin? What if this fake engagement and forced proximity caused him to develop feelings? I stopped walking and pressed my hand against my chest to ease the sharp pain that struck me at the thought. If that happened, how would I survive it?

  “Rumor? Is that you?” Maeme called out.

  I stared back at the kitchen doorway. I had to reply. Go in there. Not look like I was going to be sick. I was letting my imagination get away with me. I had to calm down and find a way not to care.

  Maeme stepped into the hallway. “There you are,” she said with a bright smile. “I thought I’d heard you. Come on in and eat.”

  I followed her into the kitchen. No one was here. There was something positive I could add to my list.

  “You need to get out. See something other than this place and the Shephards. We are going to Annette’s for afternoon tea. Her stylist is coming, and we are going to do some shopping. You need some things that are your own, and there is nothing Annette loves more than to host a fashion show in her sitting room.”

  I was leaving the property? Going to Storm’s parents’ home?

  “Is that safe?” I asked her, not sure if I should be going anywhere, as lovely as the idea sounded.

  Maeme handed me a plate. “Yes. Storm is taking us, and the Kingston property is as secure as we are here.”

  King wasn’t taking us. He wasn’t here to talk to me either. No explanation or even an apology. I was relieved he wasn’t here, but then it also stung. I’d wanted him to care enough that he’d at least try and talk to me.

  Not wanting Maeme to see that I was upset, I focused on getting food on my plate, then took a seat at the bar.

  She set a cup of coffee down in front of me. “It has Splenda and almond milk in it,” she told me.

  I looked up at her. “Thank you,” I replied, surprised that she had both of those things.

  “King told me you prefer almond milk in your coffee instead of creamer.”

  King had told her. That was thoughtful. NO! I wasn’t going there. King was manipulative. He had kept things from me. He had probably had sex with Scotlin last night.

  My grip on the fork in my hand tightened, and I took in a slow, deep breath. I had to stop thinking about him.

  • Seven •

  I’d missed so many red flags in my desire to belong to someone.

  Rumor

  Barrett and Annette Kingston’s home wasn’t as stupendous as the Shephards’, but it had the historical architecture that made it breathtaking. Two hundred years ago, this would have been considered a mansion.

  Maeme sat up front with Storm in the black Escalade he had arrived to pick us up in.

  I’d listened to their conversation and responded when Maeme brought me into it, but for the most part, I had taken in the landscape as we drove. It had been dark when I arrived here over a month ago now.

  The town was beautiful. Like something out of a history book. The homes that we’d passed were antebellum, and many had historical markers. I was so caught up in it all that I missed when Maeme spoke to me more than once. She chuckled at my distraction and informed me that Madison was Georgia’s best small town, according to the internet. But she believed it was the best town in the South. She also told me that it had been named for President James Madison.

  I understood why they had all chosen to live here and not leave. Who would want to leave?

  Storm opened the car door for me, and as I stepped out, I saw one of the large double doors to the front of the house swing open. Annette came outside, dressed in a pencil-straight white skirt that hit just above the knee and a sleeveless dark blue button-up blouse that was tucked in at the waist. She was always so well groomed and dressed. I wondered if she ever had a hair out of place.

  “I expect mint juleps are on the veranda,” Maeme called out to her.

  Annette laughed. “They’re already made and waiting on us.”

  “You grew up in this house?” I asked Storm.

  He nodded. “Yep. Third generation of Kingstons to live in it.”

  Wow. What it must be like to have that kind of family history. To know who you had come from, where they’d lived, what their names were. Things I would never know about myself.

  “It’s beautiful,” I told him.

  “The azaleas are coming in nicely,” Maeme called out to Annette as she walked over to me.

  “Aren’t they?! I love spring,” she replied. “Wait until you see my tulips out back. They are to die for.”

  Maeme stopped a few feet from me and waved a hand for me to come with her.

  “Good luck,” Storm whispered as I left him there.

  Getting a change of scenery was helping my mood. The ache in my chest was still there, but it was easier to push it back and think about other things this way. I walked beside Maeme up to the front steps that led onto the porch.

  Annette opened her door and motioned for us to go inside. “Come on in. Our drinks await,” she informed us.

  This kind of thing was what made it hard to associate these people with what I knew of the Mafia. They seemed wholesome and normal.

  You would never imagine that Maeme could shoot a pistol, much less that she owned one. I wondered if Annette had a gun. Could she shoot one too? Was that part of the prerequisite to marrying one of these men?

  “You look perfect in that pink sundress,” Annette told me. “I bought that for Lela, and she never wore it. I’m so happy you are getting some use out of the things I sent.” Her gaze dropped to my sandals. “We will definitely do some shoe shopping today.”

  “Annette,” Maeme scolded.

  Her eyes swung up to meet Maeme’s. “I wasn’t saying anything was wrong with the ones she is wearing. I like Tory Burch. It’s just that she seems to always be wearing them. She needs more shoes.”

  Maeme rolled her eyes and looked at me. “You’ll end up with more shoes than you know what to do with today.”

  I started to argue that I didn’t need more, but the hopeful expression on Annette’s face stopped me. Instead, I managed a smile. “As long as the cost comes out of Hill’s—uh, my money.” It was hard to think of it as mine.

  Nothing that had been Hill’s ever felt like mine. Even before we married, he made it clear that he owned everything. I’d missed so many red flags in my desire to belong to someone. To have a family.

  Once, I had daydreamed about having kids of my own. Being the mom I’d never had. Knowing that there was someone who was a part of me. That I shared their blood. But now, I didn’t see that in my future. It was a dream I had let go of after the first broken rib. I’d realized then that I couldn’t bring a child into that life. Hill was dead, but my trust in men was once again gone.