Deception (Infidelity #3)(2)

Evidence. Her parents have both sworn statements about his abuse. On more than one occasion they witnessed bruises on her wrists. They’ve both testified to that.



I looked to my wrists. There was a faint brown mark from where I’d pulled too hard against the satin. I continued to read.



He was a workaholic. They say she was sad and scared.

Their testimony is available. They have a civil suit pending against him. He bought off the judge for the petition of evidence in a criminal matter, but even the great Lennox Demetri can’t stop all the wheels of justice.

Get out. Leave. Come home or at least move back to your apartment.

Alexandria, I’m scared to death.

I also think he’s behind framing me with Melissa. He could be the reason she’s missing. By getting rid of her, he can remove me from your life.

Lennox is dangerous.

I’m begging you. Your mother is begging you.

Ask him if he’s responsible for Jocelyn’s death… and get out!



Bryce



Why couldn’t he let this go? Why would he think Nox was connected to Melissa? That didn’t make sense.

The letter consisted of two pages. Each handwritten page surrounded the picture. I didn’t want to move the last page of words. I didn’t want to see her again.

I hadn’t realized I was crying until a tear splashed against the paper.

When I looked up, my eyes met Nox’s. His pallor matched his cold, icy eyes, so different than only minutes earlier.

“You shouldn’t have touched it.”

I couldn’t comprehend. “Touched what?”

“That letter, Charli. You’re destroying evidence. Deloris can dust it for fingerprints.”

My head moved slowly back and forth as I realized I was holding Jocelyn’s picture.

How angry would Nox be?

Before I could think, I was up on my feet, my heels sliding across the wooden floor as I backed away from him. “Where’s Deloris?”

“She’s on her way up. What’s the matter? What did that say?”

“I-I…” I rolled my lips between my teeth. “I need to talk to her.”

Nox took a step toward me. His expression morphed from concern to something more intense as I once again took a step back. “What the fuck, Charli? Are you afraid of me?”

“No,” I answered too quickly and too loudly.

When he closed the distance, he snatched the papers from my hand. I didn’t release them quickly enough. The momentary tug of war allowed them to fall. They fluttered to the floor, Jocelyn’s smiling face looking up at us.

Color returned to his face as red covered his cheeks. The vein in his forehead bulged, and the muscles in his neck tensed. “What the fuck is this?”

I blinked, afraid to speak, yet unable to stay silent. I searched his eyes and worked to even my voice. “I think it’s nothing. I think it’s my family trying to scare me.”

“You think?” He lifted her picture from the floor. “Your family broke into our apartment?”

I shook my head. “I doubt it. They probably paid someone.”

Nox couldn’t pull his eyes away from Jocelyn. The edge of the page crumpled as his grasp tightened.

“Please look at me,” I begged.

The muscles in his temples flexed as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

“Nox!”

Slowly, he looked away from her to me.

“Just tell me that you had nothing to do with her death. Tell me you weren’t responsible, and we will go to the hotel, or stay here. There’s no threat.”

He didn’t speak.

“Please, Nox,” I begged, reaching for his hands, wanting to help him, to take away the pain this letter caused. “Please. I didn’t gather this information. It was thrown at me. It doesn’t even make sense. Just tell me you aren’t responsible for her death, and I’ll ignore everything the letter said.”

The floor dropped out from under me as his answer echoed against the freshly painted walls.

“I can’t.”





“I CAN’T.”

Nox’s deep voice echoed from the walls of my newly decorated office. Their vibrations amplified within my soul, the meaning lost as I searched his icy blue stare.

I can’t.

Indecision and uncertainty rushed through me.

Who was this man?

Did I even know?

Nothing mattered but the one recurring question that, while answered, remained unexplained.

Please, Nox, tell me that you’re not responsible for her death.

My heartbeat quickened as I stepped back from the man who had been my lover, from the man whom I’d trusted. Mute and deaf. The words I can’t were the only ones I heard over the deafening silence. Yet there was more. The world unrelentingly spun, tilting on its axis as life continued beyond my fog.

Nox’s large hand reached for me, pulling me from the abyss of my thoughts. Like fur-lined handcuffs, his grip was strong and unbreakable while at the same time gentle and comforting. The expression upon his handsome face changed before my eyes. The anger or defiance I’d seen only seconds before morphed, combining with hurt and concern.

“Charli,” Nox said.

My name hung in the air like the clanging of a church bell, the next ring coming before the other disappeared, each time louder than the time before.