Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 24323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24323 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 122(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
"Now, see here," Marvin blustered, some of his courage returning. "Whatever Cadence told you—"
"She told me nothing," Keiran cut in. "She still believes your lies. Still thinks I'm the one who betrayed her."
Understanding dawned in Marvin's eyes. "You know."
"I know you told her I was cheating when it was you in that hotel with your secretary. I know you manipulated her fears, her insecurities—everything you'd spent years carefully cultivating."
"It was for her own good," Marvin insisted. "You were nobody. A carpenter with no background, no family—"
Keiran moved so quickly neither of them saw it coming. One moment he was standing three feet away, the next, his hand was around Marvin's throat, lifting him inches off the ground.
"I was her husband," he said, each word precise and deadly. "And you took that from both of us."
Gail's scream was distant, irrelevant. Keiran's focus narrowed to Marvin's bulging eyes, his desperate gasps.
"I could kill you right now. Make it look like an accident. A heart attack brought on by stress. No one would question it." He tightened his grip slightly. "No one would miss you."
"Please," Gail sobbed. "Please don't."
Keiran held Marvin a moment longer, watching him struggle, before releasing him. The older man collapsed to his knees, gasping for air.
"Here's what's going to happen," Keiran said calmly, as if he hadn't just nearly choked a man to death. "You're going to disappear. No calls to Cadence. No attempts to contact her. As far as she's concerned, you've abandoned her—just like you really did when she was six."
Marvin's head jerked up, shock written on his face. "How did you—"
"I know everything about her. About you. About Elena Biancardi." Keiran smiled at their expressions. "Yes, that too."
"You can't tell her," Gail whispered. "We promised—"
"I know who you promised. And what he'd do if you broke that promise." Keiran straightened his cuffs. "Consider this your one warning. Stay away from Cadence, or I finish what the Costellos will start when they find you."
He turned to leave, then paused. "Oh, and Marvin? If I ever hear you've spoken a word against me to Cadence again, I'll make sure the only thing they find of you is your watch."
The terror in their eyes was answer enough.
THE PUNCHING BAG SWUNG wildly as Keiran's fist connected with brutal force. Sweat ran down his bare chest, his breathing controlled despite the exertion.
Left hook. Right cross. Roundhouse kick.
The memory of Marvin's face played across his mind with each impact. The fear. The recognition that the "nobody" he'd dismissed was something far more dangerous.
Keiran had wanted to do more than threaten. Had wanted to make Marvin suffer for every tear Cadence had shed, every moment of self-doubt he'd planted in her mind.
But that would have raised questions. Drawn attention. And Keiran needed to stay in the shadows until he'd secured what mattered most.
That I loved you more than I ever loved them, and always would.
Her words from earlier echoed in his mind, throwing off his rhythm. The sincerity in her voice. The pain. The naked vulnerability that always made him want to both shield her and shake her.
How could she still be so trusting after everything?
"Working hard, I see."
Keiran didn't pause his assault on the bag. "What do you want, Simus?"
Onesimus leaned against the doorframe of the private gym, unfazed by Keiran's hostility. "Chef would like to know if Mrs. de Laigny—"
"Don't call her that." The punch that followed split the leather of the bag.
"—has any allergies."
"She doesn't." Keiran delivered a vicious kick that sent the bag swinging wildly. "Now leave."
"Perhaps it would be better if you asked her yourself."
Keiran stopped, turning to face the older man. "I'm warning you, old man. Don't interfere."
"You might as well ask me to stop breathing." Onesimus's weathered face remained impassive, but his eyes reflected decades of loyalty—and the earned right to speak truths no one else dared.
"Simus, dammit."
"I was one of the reasons your marriage broke down—"
"She's the only reason our marriage fell apart." Keiran ripped off his gloves, throwing them aside. "Because she didn't trust me."
"You gave me a second chance."
The words landed like a physical blow. Keiran turned away, reaching for a towel. "You were grieving for your wife. That's how you ended up abducted. You had a weakness other people took advantage of—"
"And she doesn't have this? A weakness that her parents didn't take advantage of?"
"It's different." Even to his own ears, the argument sounded weak.
"I accept that," Onesimus said with surprising gentleness. "Because I can be replaced, but there can only be one woman for you—"
"She's not it." Keiran's voice hardened. "She will never be it."
"And yet she is the only woman who has earned a second chance with you."
Keiran laughed, a harsh sound with no humor. "This is me killing two birds with one stone. I have a blood debt to her brother that I swore to repay. And while I'm keeping her safe, I'll take the opportunity to punish her as well."