Consumed by Deception (Deception Trilogy #3) by Rina Kent

“Does…does that mean you believe me?”

“Tell me everything,” he repeats. “Don’t leave any fucking detail out.”

I wrap the covers around me as I recite what happened in the last six years, starting with when Luca approached me about keeping an eye on Adrian, then on to our meetings in the shelter’s bathroom, and I even tell him about the crumbs of information I shared with Luca.

It’s useless to keep anything from Adrian at this point, not when he seems to be on the verge of throwing it all away.

“So you’ve been meeting him regularly,” he says with deceptive calm after I’m done. “Behind my back.”

“It meant nothing. I promise.”

“How could it mean nothing when you did it religiously?”

“I told you, I just needed a friend. After…after I killed that man, I pulled away from Luca. That day at the park, I told him we no longer had any sort of relationship and that we should each go our separate ways. He forced that kiss on me because I was no longer on his side.”

“Should I be grateful for that? Should I be fucking grateful that you stopped meeting the man who’s been planning to kill me, Lia?”

“No…that’s not what I meant…”

“If I hadn’t found out, would you have taken your secret to the grave or would you have rekindled your relationship with Luca and come after me again?”

“No, never! I…I wanted to tell you all about it but couldn’t muster the courage. You…you can be so scary sometimes and I didn’t want us to lose what we have.”

“Well, congratulations. We already did.”

My heart falls to the bottom of my stomach. The room spins around, and although I’m sitting, it feels as if I will fall in a heap on the ground. “W-what?”

“Get dressed.”

“Why?”

“Get fucking dressed.”

I jerk to a standing position, letting the covers fall to the floor as I head to the closet. My hands are clammy, shaking, and tears won’t stop escaping my lids, blurring my vision and rolling down my cheeks and neck.

Due to my state, it takes me some time to put on my underwear and a black wool dress.

My husband watches my every move with his cold expression. I want to ask him what he meant by his words, I want to beg for another chance, but the fear of his cold shoulder and rejection keeps my quivering lips shut.

As soon as I put on my coat, he grabs me by the arm and drags me out of the room and down the stairs. I’m unable to keep up with his long strides and end up stumbling and nearly falling a couple of times.

“Adrian…” My voice cracks. “Whatever it is you’re planning to do, don’t… Please…don’t…”

He yanks the front door open and I grit my teeth when the freezing air hits me and saturates to my bones.

The sky is gloomy, nearly invisible as heavy snow falls and blurs the horizon.

I’m still begging and pleading while Adrian drags me in the direction of the forest. Our feet form holes in the thick layers of snow as we go on and on until the house disappears from view.

“Adrian…Adrian…”

He yanks me in front of him and I stumble before falling on my knees, face-first into the snow. I lift my head to stare at his closed off expression.

“Sergei found out that I killed Richard and he will demand retribution for such betrayal.” His voice is more frigid than the merciless snowstorm.

“You…you…don’t mean…”

“There’s only one punishment for traitors, Lia.” He retrieves his gun from the back of his pants. “Death.”





21





Lia





Six years.

It took six years for me to find myself in this position again.

I stare at the muzzle of the gun. And not just any gun—Adrian’s.

He’s not pointing it at me. At the moment, it’s in his hand by his side, but I know exactly what’s coming.

What he plans to do.

My lips part, allowing my salty tears to seep into my mouth, but I’m not crying because of death. I was ready for that the day my career ended, and I only stayed alive due to Adrian and the gift he gave me in the form of Jeremy.

The reason why I can’t stop the flow of tears or the pain that’s splitting my chest in half is because of the hurt on his beautiful face, taking refuge in his hypnotizing eyes. The fact that he thinks I betrayed him or that I would ever wish him harm.

“I trusted you, Lia, even more than I trusted myself. You were the light I wasn’t allowed to have and I did everything I could to protect it and not let it burn out. You were the only purity I saw in the world and I did my hardest not to tarnish it. In my own fucked-up way, I wanted to preserve you, to go against my nature and keep you, but I should’ve known it was only a pipe dream.”

“You did. You protected me, you…gave me a reason to live after I thought everything was over. I always called you a monster, but it took forgetting you to realize you’re the monster I need. So…please…please give me another chance. Give us another chance, for Jeremy, for our family. I…don’t care if you punish me for an eternity as long as you’re with me. Please…”

Snow sticks to his shoulders and dark hair as he stares down at me with lips twisted in what seems like pain. “I can’t.”