Lachlan’s hand squeezes mine tightly. I take the strength he offers, even as I’m faced with the undeniable shock of Magnolia’s deception.

Before this moment, I didn’t know it was possible to be torn in two completely opposite emotional directions. I’m thankful Magnolia put me in Lachlan’s path, but the stabbing feeling of betrayal is undeniable.

She painted a picture of a man who was scarier than the devil himself, and yet she pushed me into his path. She couldn’t have known how things would end up. Could she?

I just . . . I don’t freaking understand.

“I don’t know if my best friend was playing matchmaker or whoring me out.”

Lachlan squeezes my hand again and reaches up to cup my chin with the other. “Don’t ever fucking say that about yourself. She played us both, Keira. Like a master. I told you she’s the best at what she does for a reason. She knew me. Knew what I liked, maybe even better than I knew myself. Then she put you in my path—the one woman she knew I’d want more of immediately. You were the ultimate drug. She banked on me becoming addicted after only one hit, and she was right.”

My mouth drops open again for what seems like the tenth time during the last few minutes, and not just because I felt the exact same way after that night. I wanted more. Needed more. Hell, I married the guy I thought he was the next day.

“I don’t understand her motives, though. That’s what doesn’t make sense.” And that’s truly the one part that has me completely stumped. Was this another case of Magnolia always knows best? Or was she playing Russian roulette with my life?

“I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t. Magnolia Maison didn’t get to where she is by doing things without a reason. She’s smart. Cagey. I’ve always respected her. But you have to know one more important thing.”

I brace for another confession that I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle. “What?”

Lachlan’s dark stare softens further, his thumb stroking my cheek. “Two days after the masquerade, I still couldn’t stop thinking about you. About how fucking incredible you were. How you demanded what you wanted, and yet gave me everything.”

His words send heat pulsing through me as the memories replay in my head, dulling the betrayal as I focus on what matters more—where I ended up because of it.

“I went back to Magnolia and told her I wanted you again. Long term. Exclusively.”

“You did?” Shock rips through me.

Lachlan nods. “Of course I did. What you demanded and gave was completely unique. She achieved her goal. She knew I’d be hooked.”

Confusion surges up again. “Do you think she expected me to start working for her?”

“I don’t know that either, but when I inquired about terms and how to acquire you—”

When I wrinkle my nose at his term, he frowns.

“Hellion, that’s who I was and what I did. Women were possessions. To be owned. Used. And put out of my mind as soon as my balls finished pulsing. I can’t change that.”

“I don’t have to like that part.”

His gaze bores into mine. “Who I was, until you,” he says, emphasizing each word. “I couldn’t get you out of my head. You infiltrated my life. You changed everything.”

His confession soothes me, yet it doesn’t change the fact that Magnolia lied to me. But that isn’t Lachlan’s fault, and I won’t put it on him.

“So, what happened when you asked?”

“Magnolia said you were a one-shot deal. Out of the business. Needed some cash, and you only agreed to one night.”

The tightness in my lungs eases a tiny bit. “So she wasn’t planning to try to spread me around.”

Lachlan shakes his head. “No. I may not understand why she did it, but I believe she was honest when she said it was a one-shot deal.”

I want to believe that, but I don’t know what to think about my best friend right now. I never would have thought her capable of this, so it’s hard to trust anything else about her in this moment.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I offered her a fortune for another night, and she still said no.”

Again, the words of a man I used to fear alleviate the pain of betrayal from this foundation-rocking confession.

Then it occurs to me why Magnolia had no choice but to turn him away.

“She couldn’t give you another night because I eloped with Brett. I married him the next day based on what happened at the masquerade. Thinking you were him. The one impulsive decision of my life—”

Lachlan sucks in a breath. “I wish I’d gone to her that morning. You would’ve been mine from that night forward. When she told me you’d married another man and were beyond my reach—not part of our world is how she put it—I was furious.”

“I never would’ve married him if I’d known—”

His other arm wraps carefully around my waist, and he draws me closer to him. He guides my face down to his lips. “I wouldn’t have fucking let you. No way in hell.”

His lips sweep across mine and I lean in, soaking up his warmth and conviction. This man changed the course of my life without even knowing he had. When he releases my chin, I meet his gaze.

“If you had to let me go because of Brett, then how did this,” I gesture between him and me, “happen?”

Lachlan’s face contains more pride than apology. “Nothing is beyond my reach, Keira. Nothing.”

I have to force myself not to smile at his arrogance. In this maelstrom of emotion and confusion, one thing is absolutely clear—Lachlan Mount hasn’t wavered at all about what he wanted. Which was me.

The pieces start to snap together.

“So you . . . you made this happen. Everything from then on was you pulling the strings.”

“Of course. When the prize is right, no amount of effort is too much.”

I can’t even hold it against him. How else would he have gotten me to fall in love with him? I can’t envision another path that would have led to where we are. Which makes this all the more confusing.

I think of how Magnolia told me to stand up for myself and not let him walk all over me. How I had to hold my own. Did she know it would keep his interest locked on me? Everything she ever told me is now called into question. While I’m contemplating this, Lachlan keeps going.

“I forced her to give me your name. I tracked you down, found out who you married. Started watching you that day. Did my research. Learned Brett’s weaknesses. Learned he conned you. And then I waited . . .”

He trails off, leaving me desperate to know where he’s going with this.

“Waited for what?”

“For you to realize exactly what he was on your own. I forced myself to stand back until you moved to sever ties.”

“Why would you wait? That doesn’t seem like you at all.” I’m trying to come up with an explanation for it, but I can’t.

“Maybe not normally, but you were different.” He tilts his head.

Still confused, I ask, “Because you needed me at my weakest to swoop in?”

He shakes his head. “No. I wanted you at your strongest.”

“But I was falling apart—”

“No, you weren’t, Keira. You were coming into your own. Don’t tell me it didn’t take a hell of a lot of courage to make the decision to end it.”

I blink twice. He’s right. Choosing to end my marriage wasn’t something I did lightly. I struggled and agonized over the decision. Even with as short as my marriage was, it still hurt like hell to admit how wrong I’d been.

“So you watched and waited. Which explains how you knew the perfect timing. When I went to a lawyer. Got the apartment. Set things in motion.” I press two fingers to my temple as more pieces slide into place. If I didn’t already have a headache, this realization would have given me one. “And that piece of shit agreed to take the money and walk, knowing that you’d come after me for it.”

Lachlan doesn’t try to deny it. “I did what I had to do to get what I wanted.”

“So this whole thing, from the very beginning, had nothing to do with the money . . .” My words come out awed at this ground-shifting realization.

He lifts a hand to tuck an errant strand of hair behind my ear.

“No, Keira. This has only ever been about you.”