Page 51 of His Forced Irish Mafia Bride

That made me finally lift my head. He was watching me too closely, like he was trying to catch something breaking in my expression.

“What I think,” I said, “is not your concern.”

His jaw tightened slightly. “That woman, Gabrielle—”

“I don’t actually care,” I cut in.

He exhaled once through his nose, and his eyes didn’t leave mine. “It wasn’t what it looked like.”

I tilted my head. “And what did it look like?”

He didn’t answer fast enough.

“I don’t need an explanation,” I said. “Like you’ve always insisted.” Something twisted in my chest, but I pushed it down. “I’m not involved in whatever is going on between you two.”

Sean’s voice dropped. “There’s nothing going on between me and Gabrielle.”

I gave a small shrug. “Then it’s still not my concern.”

I didn’t look at him again. I kept my eyes on the papers, like if I held my focus there long enough, Sean would go away.

He didn’t move. He just stood like he was waiting for me to say something else. Like he expected me to talk about it.

We hadn’t discussed it once. Not since it happened. Since we’d crossed that line and then quietly agreed, without words, that we’d never bring it up again.

We were legally married. Our marriage was real on paper. Everything else…was not.

We’d had sex only one time. Neither of us had mentioned it since. It had meant nothing. Sean finally spoke again, quieter now.

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

I didn’t look up. “I know what you meant.”

He paused.

I felt him watching me, like he was deciding whether pushing further would change anything. It wouldn’t. He stayed there a second longer.

Then I heard the shift. The decision to leave. His footsteps turned away. Only then did I lift my eyes slightly, just enough to see him walking out.

I didn’t call him back. There was nothing to talk about.

That was what I told myself. The door hadn’t even shut fully before the room felt different. I looked back down at the papers quickly, like I’d never been distracted.

The names were still there. Still lined up. Still waiting.

Peter Earl. Stuart Justice. Ian Rush. Gabrielle De Succa.

My pen stayed still. Thoughts of Sean tried to rise again, but I pushed them down. It didn’t matter.

We were only married to settle a debt. That was the agreement. That was all it was. I leaned forward, forcing my focus back into the work, tightening it until there was no space left for anything else. I gathered the pages again, faster this time, like speed could stop me from thinking about anything else.

Peter. Stuart. Ian. Gabrielle.

And the node beneath all of it, the part that belonged to someone else…what was connecting these four, and why? I had to find out!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sean