Page 74 of Bound Bride
"Kon, please. I don't know what you're talking about!"
"Yes you do. When it reaches me that you are having an affair, I think that it cannot be possible because how could I lovesomeone who would hurt me this much? I tell myself that it is a lie and then I see the proof with my own eyes!"
"What…" My eyes dart back and forth while I frantically replay the last few minutes in my head, and I remember Calvin's hand on my arm. "Because he touched me?! You can't be serious! He was comforting me, Kon, because of?—"
"Enough!" he roars.
I flinch backward and my racing heart plunges into my gut as he thrusts his hand into his pocket and drags out his phone.
"How long did it take? Hm? I tell you I am infertile and you just jump into bed with another man at the first chance you get?!"
I'm too stunned to speak so when Kon throws his phone at me, it simply smacks into my chest and plummets to the ground.
Tears cloud my vision, but I kneel and pick up his phone, only to freeze as a picture on the screen gives me all the answers I could need.
It's a photo from yesterday at the river when I tried to kiss Calvin.
It doesn't show him pushing me away immediately, or the tears after. It's taken at precisely the right moment to make it look like we're engaged in a kiss.
"Kon," I gasp and tears leak down my cheeks. "This isn't what it looks like, I know it looks bad but—" I glance up at him but to my horror, there's nothing but cold disdain across his face.
"I trusted you," Kon states coldly and hurt cracks through his voice. "I do not want to see you ever again. I am sending you back to your father.” Kon turns his back and begins stalking backto the manor, shaking pain from his fist. “Count yourself lucky that I am allowing you to leave alive."
24
KONSTANTIN
Ice clinks in the glass as the cubes knock against one another, forced to shift as I pour the vodka over the top.
My hand trembles slightly when I set the bottle down but I ignore it, grab the glass and lift it to my lips.
Three gulps and the drink is gone.
I set the glass down and pour another, then lift it to my lips and drink it again in three gulps.
By the third drink, I can't hold in my cough as the straight alcohol burns all the way down my throat and cuts through the tight fog of white-hot fury knotted just underneath my ribs.
Rose and Calvin.
How did I not see it?
A woman who is far too good for me and a man who wasn't part of the mafia in the first place.
I should have seen it coming and yet I was blind to it.
Blind because Rose seemed unable to keep her hands off me, because she slotted into this life with me without complaint and I thought I was lucky.
I thought this deal had brought me someone who actually cared for me, who loved me in some capacity.
I thought I had made everything perfect for her, spent enough time with her to make her feel cared for, and protected her to the best of my ability.
Somehow, through it all, I sent her into Calvin's arms.
Calvin.
A bastard I thought I could trust and all this time he was getting closer and closer to my wife.
History repeats itself to those foolish enough not to learn.
