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the dozens of photos and screenshots I sent to Elena. Most of the photos are of Leon and Angie in bed together, but I cropped out the nudity for Elena’s sake. There are a lot of sexting messages, and many comparisons that Leon makes between this other woman and Elena. The messages include details about Leon’s life that Elena is familiar with, like which classes he’s taking and his schedule. It’s unmistakably authentic. I know it is, because I found it all on Leon’s phone. In a dismissive tone, he says, “It’s nothing. Just
“Were you with this woman the same day you saw me?”
He’s not falling in love with her or confused about which woman his heart belongs to. Leon does seem to care about Elena, but he’s frustrated and resentful that she won’t sleep with him. That’s no excuse for his behavior. He should have broken up with her instead of cheating on her, because now he’s hurt her.
“I see,” I say coldly. It disgusts me all over again to look at the photos of Leon and this other young woman. I wish I could have spared Elena the sight, but a short, sharp shock is preferable to a long, drawn-out breakup.
“Dating two women at the same time is shameful behavior, Leon. I’m disappointed in you.”
“Leon,” I shout as I enter the house. “Get down here right now.”
Confusion is kneeling in a church pew praying over and over that you won’t burn in hell for all eternity because you’re never good enough. It’s trying to be a good girlfriend, and then having endless steamy dreams about your boyfriend’s dad. It’s hiding a murder spree and a secret kiss in the dark. If anyone finds out Mr. Grant killed my attackers and I concealed his involvement, I could go to prison and so could Mr. Grant.
“I don’t know if this hurts because I loved him, or because I was really trying, and I still wasn’t enough.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. It’s just that…” He lifts his twinkling eyes to mine. “After what you and I have been through together, how could you call yourself boring?”
“When I say you are enough, it doesn’t mean I’ve measured you against some special criteria. It means that just by being you, kind, sweet Elena, I’m in awe of you.”
“My ex didn’t cheat on me, but she let me know she was gravely disappointed in the man I am.”
“We wanted different things. I wanted more children, and she wanted more freedom. I couldn’t be the real me around her, so piece by piece, I shut her out, and that hurt her.”
“Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? I don’t think I’ve ever been my whole self before, but I feel like I’m getting closer.”
“I should check on her, Elena.”
“Alexandra, you’re not going to believe this.” It’s not Alexandra’s voice I hear in my ear, but a deep, masculine one. “Elena? It’s Cullan.”
thanks to the spyware on her phone, and I possess every email, text message, app interaction, and browser search she’s made. I know that she watched three episodes of Bridgerton last night.
“Oh, no. That’s terrible,” I say, admiring the wrench I’m holding. “I wonder how that happened.”
Elena won’t be electrocuted. I tripped the fuse in her apartment before loosening the pipe under the sink, but she could still slip on the wet floor.
I didn’t do this to watch her walk away from me now.
I turn Elena’s access to the baby monitor app off so she can get good rest.
“You’re not going to believe this. My nanny just quit. No notice, and my schedule is packed this week.”
“Elena, you’re the only person now who I trust around my daughter. I can’t tell you how much it will mean to me knowing you’re here with Rosie while I’m working today.”
“Lay-na,” Rosie repeats. Then she smiles and chants happily, “Lay-na, Lay-na, Layna.”
Breaking Elena and Leon up was easy. Having her move into my house was a simple task. Terminating her work at the diner and making her entirely dependent on me? A more challenging project.
While Elena’s back is turned, I wink at my daughter like she’s my co-conspirator.
Earlier today, I asked Rosie if she’d like Elena to be her new nanny and Daddy’s new wife, and she seemed enthusiastic about the idea. Maybe she was just excited to play with her blocks, but I like to think it was really the prospect of a beautiful, loving mother and several new baby brothers and sisters to play with.
“All Rosie did this afternoon was ask for you.” “Lay-na,” my daughter repeats, chewing on a carrot stick. I have to fight a smile. My daughter could be a paid actor she’s playing her part so well, but she just adores Elena as much as I do.
“After all you and I have been through together, you feel like family.”
“Like you want me. It’s a bad idea for me to get my hands on you right now.”
“Go lock yourself in your room, because if I find you anywhere else, I won’t be able to stop myself.”
“I told you to run from me, and you went straight to my bedroom?”
“You look at me this way all the time. You think I don’t notice, but I do.”
“Like you’re wondering if I want you. I’ve wanted you since the moment I met you, and I’m tired of pretending otherwise.”
“I’m not a good man, Elena.”
“I don’t care.”
“Good girl.”
“You want me to touch you, don’t you? Say it.”
“I’m a very fucking jealous man, and my son has been the one to touch you all these months. Do you dream about him touching you like this?”
“You don’t want my son. You’ve never wanted my son.”
“You want Daddy’s thick cock. Don’t you?”
“Do you feel what you do to me? You make me insane. I’ve been thinking about making you mine ever since you gave me that first sweet smile. I never cared that it’s wrong. I’m obsessed with you. You’re all I want.”
“I want you raw, no condom. I need to thrust into your sweet, tight, heat and feel your pussy gripping my cock. I want to pull out, covered in your virgin blood, and drive into you again and again. I want to fuck you hard through our orgasms and fill you up with cum until it’s dripping around my cock.”
Elena: Cute. The dog’s not bad either.
“You can say what you like about me. Get it out of your system. But don’t drag other people into our fights.”
“You’re angry that you signed over sole custody of Rosie. You can rant and scream, Rebecca. Throw your tantrum, but it’s too late to take back those papers you signed. I have final say in who cares for Rosie, and Elena is her nanny. It’s no longer my job to deal with your drama and your hangovers.”
The box feels magical. It doesn’t matter what’s in it. It’s what it represents, that someone thought about me long enough to choose something they thought I would like. Stalling for time so I can savor this moment as long as possible, I ask him,
There he is. The secret reason I’m still wearing a contraceptive patch. A secret so hidden that I’m barely prepared to admit it to myself.
“Cullan, will you get off your goddamn phone?” Tyrant throws his linen napkin on the table and glowers at me.
Why is she still at Pixie? What’s so fucking fascinating at Pixie that she’s not moving on? Is it a man? Is he touching her?
“Is the dot going to tell you if Elena is making out with someone?” Tyrant asks.
