The Darkest Danger (Shattered Series Book 2) (10 page)

     Staying silent, she awaited the next verbal blow.

     “So, I schemed, plotted, and became involved in illegal dealings just so that I could break them financially. But, it wasn’t enough for me. I wanted them both to bleed crimson red,” he said as if disgusted with himself. “The feds got in on it, and they pulled me in, realizing that I could be an asset to their case. They did their research, looked into their private lives and the relationships that shaped them. That’s how you came into the picture. My job was to seduce you and get all the information that I could on Addison.”

     At his words, the numbness settled on her.

     Stung by his betrayal, she sank down on the sofa.

     “I did my research. I found out as much as I could about you and your family. Pretty much, except for your uncle, you were alone. Back then, I can remember thinking,” Jarrod murmured, as if faraway. “That those facts alone would make you an easy mark, for weren’t you already broken somewhat?” He paused. “I was a cold, calculated son-of-a-bitch with no regards to anything or anyone. Revenge was my drug, and I fed on it like junkie getting his fix. It was my high. I was addicted to it.” Finally, he looked at her again, but still, it was if he didn’t really see her. “Addison’s obsession with you clenched the deal. That’s when I realized that you were the answer to his destruction.” He gave a humorless laugh. “But, I was too much of a fool to realize that you’d be my own.”

     Although it hurt to say the words, she said them anyway. “So, you decided to use me.”

     The shame played on his handsome features. “Yes, I did.”

     At the words, she sucked in a painful breath.

     “I was a coward, too blinded by my own insecurities to face the truth. I needed someone, and that someone was you. The very moment that I saw you, that truth was there,” he said, and pain laced his words. “I’ll never forget that night---the first time that we met face to face. The crowd in the gallery was small, so you met me in the doorway.” His smile was brief. “When I first saw you, it was if I’d been struck by lightning, and for a moment, I lost all speech. I swear that your smile lit up the world---
it set mine ablaze
. Through your eyes, I saw the things that I’d thought lost---feelings and emotions.” He paused, lost in time again. “And you, you sensed our instant connection, just as I did. In your beautiful, big brown eyes, I saw the truth. We’d found the very thing that we’d both been yearning for.”

     Turning away from her, he stared out the window and faced the rainy night again.

     At loss for words, they both allowed the silence.

     “Even as I found myself at the gallery week after week, I was too proud to admit that I was there because I wanted to see you. So, I convinced myself that it was all part of the game against Addison.” He looked at her fully. “What I didn’t realize that I was being played in my own game of deception. For I was the true pawn…
you had captured me
.”

     “So, all this time, you’ve been pretending to care about me?” she whispered, anguished, and was pained at the words.

     “No,” he said roughly, whirling around to face her. “If there’s anything that’s true, it’s the fact that I love you. Before the accident, in all the weeks and months that we spent together, I fell in love with you. I’ve loved you from the very beginning.” Frustrated, he raked a shaky hand through his hair. “And I was too cowardly to face that very fact until you and I were together at Laramie Rock.”

     “Laramie Rock,” she murmured, and somehow, it hurt to breathe. “When I awakened from the coma, you had evidence that proved we were together. The things that you told me, were those lies, too?”

     “There were half lies and half truths.” The dark shadows played across his face, but still, they didn’t hide his plain grief. “The truth was, it was your wedding day, and there was a church explosion. But, I was not the man that you were going to marry.”

     As she swallowed past the lump in her throat, a tear slipped free. Hastily, she brushed it away, and again, she had to force the words out. “So, the truth of the matter is that you kidnapped me from the wedding. You wanted to hurt Matt.”

     “Yes, a part of me wanted to put the screws in Addison. I won’t lie about that. But, do you want to know the real reason why I did it?” he said roughly, and his pain was so visual that she wanted to wipe it away. “I did it to stop you from making the biggest mistake of our lives. How could I just stand back and allow the woman that I loved to marry someone else, especially one the likes of Addison?” The disgust played in his voice. “I knew that he was holding something over your head and forcing you into it. I didn’t care what measures that I had to go to stop it.”

     “I have no doubts that I’d been coerced into marrying him,” she spoke distantly, for her emotions were too stormy for any clear thinking. “In these last weeks, he’s mentioned that his father has bogus evidence that’ll keep me in line. It’s apparent that my relationship with Matt has always been a loveless one.” Finally, she focused her attention on him again, and she marveled at the guilt and shame that played on his face. “You knew that, didn’t you? That’s why you decided to go in for the kill and capture your quarry.”

     “I loved you. I still do, now more than ever---”

     “Stop it!” she shouted, leaping up from the sofa, and her eyes were filled with angry tears. “Don’t you ever say those words to me again. They’re completely meaningless.”

     “Olivia---”

     “No! I don’t want to hear any more of your lies. Enough of them! You’ve had your say, and I think that it’s time that I have mine,” she fought back. “You’ve taken everything else away from me. Can’t I at least have this right?”

     “Baby, I’d give anything to take away what I’ve done,” he whispered hoarsely, and tears glistened in his green orbs. “I’d rather die than hurt you---”

     “But, you can’t take it back, can you?” she challenged, and as their eyes met, she prayed that she wouldn’t crumple from the pain on his handsome visage. “How can you erase the destruction that you’ve caused at your own hands?”

     “Forgive me. Baby, I’m sorry,” he rasped unsteadily, reaching out to her. “Please---”

     “All this time, you’ve been laughing at me, playing me for a fool,” she accused, sucking in a painful breath. “Tell me, Jarrod, have you gotten all of your kicks in? Are you proud that your little plan worked?”

     “Baby---”

     “Don’t call me that!
I am the pawn
, remember? The game piece in your power play against Matt and his father. You know what? It’s funny.” Her laughter verged on hysteria. “It all makes sense now, all the evasiveness from everyone else. Dr. Roma, for instance, he would never totally be upfront with me about us. He knew what you were doing, didn’t he”

     The guilt played on his face. “Yes.”

     “Damn,” she whispered, embracing her anger. “You’re good. Keeping a well-renowned physician quiet is no small feat. Like you, he deserves a medal for his award-winning performance. How much did that little endeavor cost you, Mr. Sabatino? A hefty price, I bet.” As she looked at him, she held her breath, afraid of his next words. “Luna, Javier, Rosa---did they know the truth?”

     “Javier and Luna---no, they had no part in this,” he said, hesitating, and flushed red. “But, Rosa, she knew what I was doing---”

     “Dear God, no,” she cried, placing shaky hands over her mouth, but couldn’t halt the flow of tears. “How could she?”

     “Don’t blame Rosa. None of this is her fault, and I regret that I ever placed her in such a position. It was wrong of me to take advantage of our friendship like that,” he muttered in her defense. “She was never in agreement with my actions, and it pained her to lie to you---”

     “No! I’m not going to stand here and listen to you justify anyone’s actions!” The bitterness played on her face. “But, you’re right. I’m not going to blame Rosa or anyone else for that matter. I’m going to place the blame where it belongs---right at your feet,” she said coldly, striding forward, and stopped when she reached him. “Jarrod Sabatino, master manipulator, the playboy billionaire who’d do anything to get what he wants. That’s the real you, isn’t it? All this time, I believed that you were much more.”

     “I deserve your disdain, your anger,” Jarrod muttered, closing the distance between them. As he framed her face in his large hands, they trembled, and she sensed desperation in the innocent touch. “Please, just give me a chance to prove---”

     “No, don’t touch me!” Angered, she slapped his hands away. “Don’t touch me ever again!” she screamed, stumbling back, looking at him woundingly. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “All the times that we made love, I thought it meant something to you. But, it was nothing but a lie---”

     “No,” he vowed strongly. “What we have together will never be a lie. It’s the only truth in all of this!”

    “But, we are, don’t you see?” she sobbed. “Everything---us---it’s built on nothing but a lie! How can you stand there and say otherwise!”

     His voice broke. “Olivia---”

     “That night on the yacht,” she said, almost crazed. “I came to you. I bared my soul. Every part of me, I gave it to you selflessly and willingly. I begged you to make love to me because being with you was all that I wanted.” Balling her hands into fists again, she raised them to her mouth, but still, they failed to block out her tormented words. “
You touched me
. Said all the words that I longed to hear. You said that you loved me.” Her words caught on a sob. “And I believed you---”

     “Baby, I do. I love you more than anything in this world,” he whispered, overcome with emotions, reaching out to her once more. “Please, just listen to me---”

     “No, no, no,” she cried, turning in a full circle, fighting to find her bearings, and clutched her head with trembling hands. But, still, she couldn’t hide from the madness. “I can’t take this. I can’t deal with this.”

     At her broken sobs, he fell silent.

     But, she wasn’t the only one scathed, she realized, taking in his distraught features, and the sight of his tears cut her to the very core.

     And it was a fact that she couldn’t bear.

   Across the short space, their tortured gazes clung, and it seemed that they were both dying.

     “How could you?” she whispered, and the words were almost too low to hear. “How could you do this to me?”

     Sobbing uncontrollably, she turned away from him.      Like a drunkard, she staggered across the room, and the sofa braced her fall as she collapsed on it. Burying her face into the cushion, she released the flood of scalding tears, and across the space, she heard his weeping.

     She squeezed her eyes shut to block the sound out, but still it resonated to her very soul.

     Was the old shack sturdy enough to bear their naked grief, she mulled dully, hearing the outside wind howling again.

     It didn’t seem that it could.

     How much time passed, she didn’t know, but the cool draft in the room signified that it was probably past evening now and into the early hours of the next day.

     “Meghan,” she said, dazed, still lying down, and stared at no particular point across the room. A broken sob left her before she could control it. “What are we going to say to her? How can we explain what’s happened between us?”    

     Hair wild and unkempt, she pushed herself up on the sofa, finally finding the courage to look at him again.

     “I don’t know,” he sighed, releasing a tired breath. “I’m just figuring things out along the way.”

     “How has that worked out for you?” she asked, not bothering to disguise her bitterness. “Not too well at all has it?” She stood abruptly. “I’m leaving. I have to get out of here.”

     “And where in the hell do you plan on going?”

     “I don’t know. I don’t care. I just know that I have to get away from you.”

     “Damn it, Olivia. I understand that you’re upset with me---”

     Her fiery gaze met his. “Upset with you? That doesn’t even begin to cover it.” She marched towards the door. “I’m leaving, and there’s not a damn thing that you can do to stop me.”

     She didn’t hear his quick steps as he crossed the room. When he whirled her around to face him, she gasped in surprise.

     “Stand back and fucking watch me,” Jarrod thundered back, towering over her. “If I have to tie you to the bed to save your life, so be it.”

     “Are you threatening to hold me here against my will?” she fumed, breathing fast. “So, we’re to that now.”

     “Don’t be ridiculous!” he snapped, showing a hint of anger. “I’d never force you into anything that you don’t want. Deep down past your anger, you know that. What I’m asking you to do is see reason. Leaving and becoming Addison’s target again is much worse than being with me.” His deep green gaze met hers. “Again, I get that you’re pissed at me, and rightfully so. But, don’t make any hasty decisions that could cost your life.”

     “What’s my alternative, then?” she demanded. “Staying with you?”

     The fire danced in his eyes. “I know that it’s not the answer that you want. But, yes.”

     Again, it hurt to breathe as she looked at him.