Throne of Truth

I tilted my chin, ignoring David and asking questions of my own for once. “Why should I go with you, Penn? You’ve done nothing but lie to me. I’ve been so stupid up until now not to dig into who you truly are. To force you to tell me what you’re hiding.”

He didn’t move, merely cocked his head in agreement. “You’re not stupid. You trusted me. There’s a difference.”

“I never trusted you.”

“You did. Just like I trust you to come with me now and give me the courtesy of letting me explain myself.”

“The courtesy? Where was your courtesy when you hid who you truly are?” I moved closer, rage replacing my fear from the past few hours. “Where was your courtesy when Stewie dropped my sapphire star necklace at the charity gala and told me he’d kept it for you to reduce your robbery sentence?” My voice rose. “Where was your courtesy when you hurt me in that alley?”

David stiffened, his weapon coming back out as my voice throbbed with unresolved hatred and pain.

Penn didn’t move. His hand stayed up, waiting for me to accept him. His eyes remained unreadable, but his lips softened as he murmured, “My courtesy is now. I came for you, Elle. I didn’t save you from Greg so I could leave and never see you again. I came for you so you could give me a second chance.”

I huffed. “I’ve already given you a second chance. You blew it.”

“Third chance then.”

Shaking my head, I wrapped arms around myself, suddenly cold in the ridiculous negligée. “I’m done with lies.”

“Good, so am I.” Penn stepped closer. “I promise you on that alley three years ago that I won’t touch you, I won’t hurt you, and I’ll drive you home the moment we’ve talked.”

“So you admit you were there. On the 19thof June.”

David glanced at us, watching our conversation with steely concentration.

Penn nodded. “I admit it. Just like I want to admit all of it. If you agree to come with me.”

Answers were so close. I was desperate for them. Hungrier for closure and truth than I’d ever been. It didn’t matter he was just as handsome as when he’d taken my virginity. It didn’t matter he was just as silver-tongued as when he’d coerced me to say yes to his seduction.

All that mattered was ending this, finishing the clues, and closing the story on this so-called romance.

David stepped closer, already knowing my decision before I did and ready to change my mind. “You can talk at a later date. Let me drive—”

I held up my hand, never looking away from Penn. “All right. I’ll go with you, Mr. Everett, if that is even your real name.” I stormed toward him, not caring he was dressed in blood and gore and so many unspeakable things from his past. A large bruise marked his cheek, his nose slightly swollen, his lip cut on the bottom. Despite all that, he was just as pretty as that night in the club when I’d said yes. “But the minute you’ve told me, I never want to see you again.”

His jaw clenched. “Understood.”

He moved toward the door. “Let’s go. The sooner I tell you, the better.”

I cringed at the bitter nastiness in his voice.

I couldn’t help the sting.

He wanted to put this behind us, too. Whatever physical connection we shared wasn’t enough to climb over the chasm of misdirection between us.

Good truth or bad.

Penn and I were over before we even began.

Chapter Fourteen

Penn

AN HOUR INTO the drive and we hadn’t said a word.

I had so many of the bastards to say yet not a single sentence formed in my head.

Elle didn’t help matters.

David had given her his blazer to sling over the gold thing she wore, and she sat with her arms and legs crossed, glaring at the road, the trees, the passing cars—anything but me.

Stopping for gas didn’t make it any better.

While I pumped fuel into the hungry vehicle, she climbed out and entered the service station—not caring what she wore, making me fall even more with the aloof beauty she wielded.

Once I finished filling the Merc, I found her slipping into a pair of pink diamanté flip-flops and braiding her tangled hair with a rubber band. She stood in perfection, surrounded by chip packets, cold drinks, and smutty magazines.

Such a mundane store in a mundane world but Elle fucking took my breath away. She stood so strong, even after what that cunt had done to her. She still moved with authority even though I’d done my best to strip her of it.

She was older, wiser, and more supreme than she’d been that night in the alley but just as intoxicating.

I should probably buy some shoes too, but all I could think about was her.

Unable to tear my eyes off her, I walked into a display holding promotional chocolate bars, dislodging a sign and splattering it to the floor.

Her head jerked up, her lips pulling into half a smile as I spun around and marched to the counter to pay for the gas.

Shit.

The attendant swiped my card just as her electrical presence appeared by my side. My skin instantly rippled with chemistry, need, and heavy frustration that I’d been with this woman. That she’d let me into her body and started to open her heart, and now, I had no claim on her.

She wasn’t mine standing in the middle of the gas station in a nightgown and bodyguard’s blazer. She was free to be looked at, flirted with, and seduced.

I punched the credit card machine with fury.