anymore. So don't claim you believe I'm strong but refuse to tell me what is happening and then throw more lies on top of it. You proved you're like everyone else in my life. Well, guess what, Malin?"
He steps in front of me. "What, ma belle?"
"I don't need more of the same in my life. So don't call me your ma belle anymore. Don't touch me. Don't feel it's your duty to stay with me."
His jaw twitches. As he stares down at me, the rip in my heart exponentially grows. His light-gray eyes turn darker, and the intoxicating lime and leather smell of his skin becomes more potent.
The noises of the jungle become muffled through the pounding in my ears.
"I'm trying to protect you," he insists.
"Hiding the truth from me isn't protection. It's distrust in my ability to handle life or keep things between us."
"Bel—" He takes a deep breath and gazes at the trees.
"I'm such an idiot," I mutter, trying to hold my emotions in.
Why did I think he was different?
Why did I believe we could be something?
Santiago must have stolen my brain when he kidnapped me. I know better than to trust a man.
"You aren't an idiot. There are things no one knows, not even my team of brothers. And the depths of what I'm a part of, I don't want you to have any understanding of."
The man in front of me isn't who I thought he was. Like everything in my life, I've been disillusioned about him. I assumed we could be real. I was wrong.
No matter how much I want him, I can't have him. He may be the only man who's ever touched me and not made my skin crawl, but nothing physical I do with him is worth being lied to or kept in the dark.
My voice shakes. "I'm sorry I expected anything from you."
"Bel—"
"Don't call me your ma belle!"
Hurt fills his face. "I'm making decisions to keep you safe."
Tears fill my eyes, but I don't let them escape. "Everyone's always making decisions for me. It's always to keep me safe. I don't need anyone else in charge of what I can handle and what I can't. I thought...no, I hoped you were different. You aren't. You're just like everyone else who wants to keep me in the dark."
10
Malin
She can't know. No one can.
She would never tell a soul. I don't have to ask her. I already trust she would never disclose anything I tell her if I ask her not to.
It's too sinister for her.
She's already been through darkness.
I haven't even told my brothers.
Her defiant, hurt expression glares at me. If I don't tell her, there's no going back. Her trust for me will always be broken. And I can't have that.
I've never disclosed anything about what I'm involved in to any woman before. But I'm not foolish to think I can have her if she doesn't trust me. It may not be tonight, or even anytime soon, but the craving to make her mine and never let her go pounds through every cell in my body. So I do what I've never done before. I cave...for her.
With my insides flipping, I slowly pull my phone out of my pocket, hit a button, and put it to my ear. My eyes never leave hers.
The line rings three times. In the middle of the fourth, Gustave answers. "I still have no answers for you," he says in French.
I speak English. "Louis is on the other side."
Emilia doesn't move.
Silence fills the line for so long, I say, "Are you still there?"
Gustave clears his throat. "Yes. You have proof?"
"The embassy woman. She let it slip."
His voice lowers. "This changes everything."
"Yes."
"The targets can't be delivered."
I reach out and stroke ma belle's cheek with my thumb. When she doesn't move out of the way or shrug out of my touch, relief hits me. "We've already taken measures to stop the delivery and take them to safety."
"All the plans—"
"We need a new strategy. We can't implement anything we discussed."
"Do the others know?"
I glide my thumb over her plump lips. "My target knows. I don't know about the others, but my gut says no."
Emilia's eyes widen.
Gustave sighs heavily. "I'll contact you when I have my thoughts together."
"Goodbye." I hang up and put my phone back in my pocket.
"Wh-who are you?" she whispers.
She should be scared of me, but I don't think she is. I step toward her. I tilt her chin up with both hands. "No one can ever know