Beneath These Lies (Beneath, #5)(80)

“Who are you?” My voice shook, and the mess of my emotions rammed together like fists to flesh.

I was going to break. I was going to lose it. He was my safety. The one solid thing I could count on. And he wasn’t real. He was a lie.

“Thank f*ck, you got her.” Another familiar voice joined the rush of static in my head.

Rhett came around the SUV. Rhett. The man who’d seen me at my worst before, and it had changed his opinion of me forever, no matter what he’d said.

“Who are you?” I demanded again.

Rix’s mouth tightened. “Beauregard Hendrix. NOPD. Undercover.”

The words were like a kick to the gut, shattering my ability to hold it together. Everything was a lie.

“I don’t even know you.”

His silver gaze pierced me. “I’m the same man I was before, duchess.”

I swallowed as hot tears spilled over. “I can’t do this right now. I can’t do this.”

I tore my eyes away from Rix, or whoever he was, and found Rhett. I spun and threw myself into his arms.

“Get me out of here,” I begged. The whole of me was falling to pieces. A full-on breakdown was imminent, and that wasn’t something I wanted anyone to see.

Rhett closed his arms around me. “Shhh. It’s okay. You’re fine. You’re just fine, honey.”

“Get me out of here,” I said again, my voice raw with the sobs I was holding back. “Now. Please.”

“Okay. We’re going.” Over my head, he spoke to someone else. “I’m taking her to the hospital.”

The thought of once again finding myself battered and bruised in a hospital bed, Rhett sitting across from me, shredded the remainder of my control. Sobs broke free, racking my body. He held me tighter, and I wanted to curl into myself and never come out.

I’m broken. I’m truly broken.





WATCHING AS VALENTINA SHRANK AWAY from me and threw herself into the arms of another man ripped at my insides. Fuck. I wanted to tear her away from Hennessy and hold her close to make sure she was okay, but the look on her face told me everything I needed to know.

She didn’t want me touching her.

That knowledge was enough to bring a man to his knees. But to fight for her, I’d stand strong.

And there’s no way in hell I wasn’t following them to the hospital. I wasn’t letting her go. I’d make her understand.

Fuck. I would not lose her. Not over this. Not over any goddamned thing.

I watched as Hennessy loaded her into his Jeep and rounded the hood. When he met my eyes, there was no triumph in his gaze.

I nodded at him. He knew I wasn’t backing down.

The taillights lit up, and he drove away with the only woman who’d ever own me.

Be ready, Valentina. I’m coming for you. Every f*cking time.





I’D SEEN HER CRUMPLE BEFORE, but this time it was worse. Valentina Noble wasn’t a woman on the edge; she was a woman who’d fallen off a cliff.

I’d seen it more than once. Victims of trauma, especially rape, who were faced with another traumatic experience often regressed dramatically due to flashbacks. Valentina wasn’t just battling the situation we’d pulled her out of. She was battling herself. And in her case, it was the strongest enemy she had.

Dried blood marred her arms, legs, and face. I wanted to clean her up, but that could wait until she was in the ER. Her safety—not her appearance—was all that mattered.

Her sobs had subsided, but I didn’t take that as a good sign. Tears still streamed down her cheeks.

“Honey, you just hold on. We’re gonna get you all fixed up again, and the last few hours will be like they never happened.”

She didn’t respond for several minutes, and when she did, her voice was quiet and shaky. “You can’t change the fact that I love him, and all he’s ever done is lie to me.” Her breaths came out ragged and harsh.

Fuck. How did I deal with this?

She kept going, and her words lit a fire of guilt inside me. “I guess I should’ve picked you. At least you never lied to me.”

Maybe not outright, but I’d known exactly what she’d been facing with Rix. How did I tell her that? I couldn’t push her further over the edge. Not right now.

“Things aren’t always what they seem, but that doesn’t make them bad.”

When she laughed, it was edged with hysteria. “I thought he was bad. I was okay with bad.” Valentina shook her head. “What the hell was I thinking? I can’t even trust myself.”

And that was why she was breaking. She’d lost the confidence in herself she’d clawed back.

“You’re going to be just fine. Keep trusting your gut and you’ll be okay. You trusted yourself with him before. Do you really think you would’ve fallen for a criminal, Valentina? You’re not that woman. Whether you realize it or not, your judgment is better than ever.”

Her gaze cut to me, sharpening, and some of the brokenness faded away.

“You knew.” Betrayal laced her tone. “You knew I was seeing him, didn’t you?”

Fuck.

We were only minutes away from the hospital, and I’d hoped it would take her longer to put the pieces together in her state, but Valentina had never been stupid.