Lie to Me (23 page)

“Accuse her of deceit once more, Katarina, and you’ll regret it.” Stone had never struck a woman before, but in that moment he fought to refrain from smacking his ex-fiancée. “This concerns you, Kella, so you’ll remain.”

His bride scowled, but presented no opposition. Instead, Kella tightened the sash on her robe and strolled to the window. She stared through the panes onto a courtyard hosting two of his guards, with her back presented to them.

“Have you fucked the bitch?” Katarina motioned to Kella.

If Katarina continued with her degradation he’d lose his ability to remain calm so they could discuss this like adults. “Cease the name calling long enough to chat like adults.”

“Be logical, Stone, you’re a catch, especially for a lowbrow.”

“My rank is a catch, not necessarily me.” Even he could admit he wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Funny how his bride wanted nothing to do with him regardless of title, but Katarina desired him simply for his rank. Would Kella alter her position once she realized he was serious about wanting her and not her genetics?

“Then you must realize the lengths some would go to claim you.” Katarina’s haughty glare at Kella suggested she blamed his wife of just that.

Even you
, he almost said, but bit the words back at the last moment. “DNA proves she’s Kella.”

From the corner of his eye, he caught Kella’s startled glance in his direction. He presumed because of his lie since he hadn’t tested her DNA.

“Okay. Well...” Katarina rubbed her temples with her fingers, panic escalating her breathing. “There’s no need to be hasty, let’s think our options through.”

“Our?”

“Yes, I am your fiancée.”

“Clearly you didn’t hear what I said.” Why’d Katarina insist on being so blasted annoying? Couldn’t she concede defeat easily for once? “Kella is my wife. Allow me to spell that out for you, Katarina. Any arrangement we had is null and void.”

He noted his ex-fiancée’s hands began to shake, and there was a tremble in her voice when she spoke. “The law clearly states you can take two wives if one of them is a Xeno.”

“Not going to
ever
happen,” Kella said, her voice icy with disdain.

Stone looked at her, silently pleading with her to let him handle Katarina.

Instead of conceding, she added, “Marry her or don’t, Stone, I don’t care either way, but—”

I know that is a lie.

“—I have my pride too. Hard limits I cannot cross. I
will not
become a breeding whore for you and your wife the way so many other Xeno’s are forced to endure.”

Stone cringed. The X-gene’s weren’t always treated with the respect they deserved. It’d always bothered him how some were bought solely to give a man and his current wife children, many excluding the Xeno from the life of the children she birthed them. The law required a lot of tweaking.

“Wow.” Katarina’s eyes rounded in diva-shock. Stone knew the look. She was about to throw one of her bratty fits.

“Just hold up—”

Katarina interrupted him. “That pedestal you’ve placed yourself upon is made of eggshells, my dear. You’re nothing but a lowborn peasant, bought by
my
fiancé, and you
will
do as you’re told.”

Stone pinched the bridge of his nose while he counted to ten and prayed for patience. He noted James peered at Kella with anticipation, as if he waited for a catfight. His fiancée had a good four or five inches on Kella’s fun-sized stature, but after experiencing his bride’s fighting skills firsthand—
my abdomen still hurts!
—Stone knew she could take his fiancée down.

“I may be lowborn, but I’m a Xeno.” Kella pivoted away from the window and approached Katarina, a slow move that unnerved him. “More prized than haughty spooner bitches like you.” Katarina gasped, and Stone figured no one had ever talked to her so frankly. His bride didn’t miss a beat, but went on, “You’re beautiful, and he’d be a fool not to pick you. I wouldn’t blame him. You’re the perfect couple.”
What the fuck does that mean
? Katarina wasn’t his type, Kella was. “I can’t imagine how upset you are that the man you love dumps a once-thought dead wife on you. Stone might legally have the right to marry us both, but the moment he makes that choice, I’ll find a permanent way out.”

A cold chill circuited the length of his spine. He caught Kella by the upper arm and turned her to face him. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what you think it means.” Kella held his gaze. “I won’t be demeaned by any man, not ever again.”

“This conversation has gone too far. And there’s nothing to discuss.” Stone turned his head to stare at Katarina. “Multiple wives aren’t an option, Katarina.” Air fled Kella’s lungs in what he took as relief. “Kella is my only bride, now and always. I’ll see that your family is fairly compensated for their monetary loss for wedding preparations.”

Tears of convenience, he was sure, streaked Katarina’s cheeks. “I love you, Stone!”

James grunted his disagreement. “You love no one but yourself.”

Stone couldn’t comprehend why his friend insisted on adding salt to his ex-fiancée’s wounds.

Katarina disregarded James, and clutched Stone’s arm. “Please, Stone, don’t make a hasty decision you’ll regret. Think about this a couple of days, and then make a less emotional decision. It’s understandable that you’d be confused and delighted she came back from the dead, but don’t give up on me and what I can off—”

“Enough.” He said between clenched teeth. “My decision is made. I won’t discuss this further. You’re commanded to leave and return home immediately, Katarina.” He glanced at James and gave him a sharp nod. “James will escort you out of my room and see to your prompt departure.”

A quick teleport would have her back home and no longer his problem.

His bodyguard pushed away from the sofa and caught Katarina’s arm, towing her toward the door. His ex-fiancée burst into sobs, but her theatrics had zero effect on James.

Once they disappeared through the door, Stone said, “Sorry about that.”

Kella folded her arms over her chest. In the past he would’ve recognized it as her closing off emotionally. “If you’d just left me alone, pretend I’m still dead, no one would be hurt here.”

“No one would be hurt if you’d remained in your position instead of running from your obligation.”

“No one hurt except me.”

“Not even you, sunshine.” Kella snorted her disbelief, and Stone rubbed the back of his neck, pondering how he’d gone from caressing Kella in the shower to a shitty afternoon thanks to Katarina. Women were a pain in his ass. “She’s only crushed because her dreams of being the Regent’s wife are over. Unless she finds another Regent-sucker to marry her.”

“You’re wrong.” She shook her head. “She loves you. She’s upset and desperate. Give her a day, and she’ll return with a new offer.”

“It doesn’t matter. My decision is made.” A knock on the door frustrated him. He wanted to assure Kella of his intentions, but she tightened the robe around her and dismissed him by moving toward the windows. He’d come at her strong since revealing her identity, so he’d give her some time to process her situation.

Maybe she needed a little space to reconcile herself to her position once again. Because there was one fucking thing he was sure of. Mackella Emmerson would never leave him again. The irony was, she didn’t want to leave him, and she didn’t realize that truth yet.

On the other side of the door was the shop woman with a cart full of boxes, and three assistants. A bellhop also waited with a tray laden with the food he’d ordered. He introduced himself to the seamstress as he motioned one of his soldiers stationed outside his bedroom to join them inside.

“Kella,” he said as everyone entered the room. “Breakfast. I couldn’t remember everything you liked, so I ordered a little of everything off the menu.”

The servant settled the tray on the table and exited with a curtsy. Kella lifted the lid and surveyed the contents. Her lips parted, and she glanced at him sharply. He thought the strawberries might’ve surprised her. They’d been her favored fruit.
That
he hadn’t forgotten.

“I did remember strawberries are your favorite,” he said. “I’m pretty sure Rick Sturgis hasn’t forgotten either.” She lowered her gaze quickly, and he wasn’t sure what to make of that. At the age of ten she’d gotten into Rick’s strawberry field and stripped him of several frams worth of fruit. Even with her lips stained red, she’d denied the thievery. Stone had enabled her bad behavior and bribed the older man to take payment for the lost fruit instead of tattling to his father. “This is Ms. Dunn and her assistants. They’ll outfit you with a starter wardrobe.”

Ignoring his announcement, she poured a cup of coffee, added four cubes of sugar, cream, and then sipped it after stirring. Instead of munching on the strawberries, she disregarded the food altogether.

“My soldier, Scout, will oversee your protection. If you need anything, I’ll be in the other room speaking with your friend, Reaper.”

“Through that door?” She nodded at the one on the opposite side of the room.

“Yes.”

“Don’t forget I’d probably be dead if not for him, Stone.”

What’d she think he planned to talk to him about? Or maybe she thought he planned to dole out punishment for his aid in her second escape attempt.

He strode to her and cupped her cheeks, tilting her head back with his thumbs beneath her chin. “Trust me, Kella.”

“Trust is earned, not freely given, Stone, and I’ve no reason to trust you.”

Didn’t she? Obstinate woman couldn’t admit he’d saved her from a life of real servitude. “We’ll talk when I return.”

Silence. She simply stared at him. Stone conceded defeat and strode toward the door to the other room. After he swung it open and was about to enter, she said, “Actions speak louder than words. Yours have spoken volumes.”

––––––––

S
tone shut the door between the rooms. He mused over her final statement. Of course she was right, actions did speak louder than words, but she’d never given him a chance to act or talk. Strange thing was his anger had evaporated, leaving behind a determination to win her back.

She’d hurt him, hadn’t even given him the benefit of the doubt. From the get-go she’d mistrusted his intentions. Yet he understood Kella’s fears and insecurities. After Kella ‘died’, her mother had confessed to him of Kella’s crush for him, but her mom, Judy, had discouraged her emotions. He’d known Kella liked him, but hearing Judy talk about her, they’d bonded, become close. Judy divulged she believed no one of his ilk would ever look at a low class girl as anything other than a friend, or for casual sex, and she hadn’t wanted that for Kella, so she’d discouraged Kella’s infatuation to save her the heartbreak.

Given that information, he could understand why Kella would’ve thought his intentions hadn’t been pure when he purchased her.

Whoever had marked her with his family sigil had sent a message of ownership to everyone and disrespected his position as her husband. He sensed she withheld information about that evening, about the marking, but he couldn’t force her to tell him everything. Not yet. Maybe in time she would reveal the truth of the sigil. He wouldn’t stop until she disclosed all her secrets and trusted him implicitly.

He probably shouldn’t be so forgiving. Was most likely thinking with his dick because he wanted inside her more now than he had as a hormonal teenager.

His anger was more directed toward his mother because while Kella might’ve doubted him, his mother had known his real emotions, and intentions.

He spotted James entering the room from the hallway, having completed his job to teleport Katarina back home. Reaper sat in a chair, his ankles tied to the chair with rope, and his arms behind his back. Stone assumed they were restrained too.

Reaper returned Stone’s stare. Stone felt like the bound man assessed him like prey, but Reaper was the one detained, so Stone had to be reading the other man’s vibe all wrong. Reaper’s dark-blond dreadlocks lent him a non-threatening demeanor, that of a man who didn’t take life too seriously, but Stone knew better.

“Whom do you work for?” he asked Kella’s friend.

“I’m a blacksmith.”

“That’s not what I mean. I understand you almost defeated James. He’s assassin trained, the youngest ever to pass the skills.”

Reaper smirked. “I’d say his skills require polishing if I almost took him down.”

Stone shook his head. “Not buying it. James says you’ve got skill not taught to the common man.”

Their captive angled his head at a slant. “Allow me to fill in the details your friend so conveniently left out. I had him in a chokehold, and he was five seconds away from going night-night when your goon jumped me from behind with the butt of his gun against my noggin’.”

Surprised by the admission, Stone hoped he managed to keep his features blank. “Is that true, James?”

James shrugged. “He’s still the one in handcuffs.”

Stone recognized James’s deflection.

“Is that so?” Reaper lifted his arms, the cuffs dangling from one hand.

James drew his weapon, cocking it in warning, as Reaper went to work removing the restraints on his ankles.

“Kella told me you saved her,” Stone said as Reaper freed one leg, going to work on the second. “She also told me you murdered the man who hurt her.” He still didn’t know the full details of that incident.

“The motherfucker deserved it. He beat her within an inch of her life.” Reaper tossed the ropes away, leaned back in his chair, and slid his legs out in a relaxed pose...as if he wasn’t captured and in the company of enemies. He was either sure he could break free, or had the biggest set of balls Stone had ever seen.

“I agree.” Stone poured a mug of coffee off the tray on the table. “I would’ve preferred he’d suffered more than a broken neck.”

One side of Reaper’s lips turned up. “I told Mack I broke his neck, but the motherfucker suffered for days. He knew every moment of his torture was because of what he did to her.”

“Thank you for avenging her.”