Page 8 of Madam Temptress
“Well, fuck, Moses. Why didn’t you tell me now that you were back?”
He looks up at the ceiling of the car. “I wanted to. I planned to. Mount made me promise I’d come clean with you. I just ... didn’t want to fuck this up.” His green-gold eyes glow with emotion. “It was too important to me.Youare too important. I should’ve told you. It was fucking stupid not to.”
Three
Moses
Iwait for Magnolia’s response to my confession. Her initial reaction was definitelynotwhat I expected.
Thinking I had a wife and kids? Like I would want that with anyone but her? But then again, how could she know? And considering Mount just told her I’d lied to her since day one, I guess her jumping to that conclusion wasn’t any more surprising than the bomb Mount dropped on her.
She threads her fingers together in her lap, and I wait for her verdict.
“I get why you didn’t want to tell me then ... but now? You really think I give a single fuck why you were in that house all these years later?” She takes a deep breath and shifts in the seat. “Listen. Lying isn’t the worst thing you can do to a person. Trust me. I’ve been throughhell, Moses. Things I may never fucking tell you about because I refuse to relive them or even say the words. You get what I’m saying?”
My hands ball into fists as I think of everything Magnolia has faced. “Yeah. I get it,” I say quietly, wishing I could have spared her every terrible experience she’s ever had, even if they forged her into the incredible woman she is.
She clears her throat and sits up straighter. “So, unless you’ve got a wife and kids hidden away somewhere, because bigamy doesn’t fucking work for me—”
I hold up a hand to stop her there. “No wife. No kids. I fucking swear.”
“And are you fucking with me about wanting to make this real? Or is everything else you said the truth?”
I reach out and take her hands in mine before I meet her gaze. “Every goddamned word was true.”
“Then why the hell did you wait fifteen years to come back and set things straight? Because one lie in the beginning doesn’t mean shit. But telling me you’ll be back and then disappearing for a decade and a half? That’s what I have a fucking problem with.”
I should have known she’d want to know more, and she deserves it.
“That job I said I failed to pull off and pay back Mount?”
“Yeah.”
I lick my lips. “I did some fucked-up shit when I found out it went sideways.”
Her features sober. “How fucked up?”
“I had a woman killed.”
She doesn’t even flinch, but her stare is razor sharp as her chin rises. “And how did that keep you away for fifteen years?”
“Her man ... he wanted revenge. Any man would. But I couldn’t risk him taking you out to get even, and then he disappeared. It took me a long fucking time to hunt down that ghost, and when I did, I had to bide my time to handle it right. I needed to do it right, because I needed to prove that I wasn’t the man I used to be. I couldn’t come back to you until I was certain as fuck about that. We took care of it, though. Got creative and made it work for all of us. I know down to my bones that the situation is no longer a threat. I wouldn’t have come back if there was a chance that I’d be leading danger to you. Not after all this time. No way. No how.”
Magnolia’s eyes grow even wider and more curious. “It took youfifteen yearsto make sure he didn’t come back and take an eye for an eye?”
“Like I said, it was a complicated situation that required every skill I have at my disposal to end it the right way. But that’s not the only reason.”
She shakes her head, and her pretty hair swings. “Out with the rest.”
“After I delivered the hard drive—two weeks late—Mount kicked me out of fucking Louisiana. That was the late fee he demanded.”
“Two weeks late,” she says quietly. “Because you stayed with me instead of going straight to him with the hard drive.”
Finally, she’s understanding, and it’s like the weight of the past lifts off me.
“Yeah.”
“And you didn’t push me to leave with you because of the guy whose woman you had killed.”
