"Why do you two dislike each other so much?" His eyes lost their softness.
"He hurt someone very close to me."
"Your wife.
He told me."
I could tell that startled him.
"But that wasn't the beginning, was it? That was a result."
"You know what he did, and you're still with him?" Lucas set his elbows on the table.
"He's doing the same thing to you.
You look exhausted and depressed.
That's part of the game to him, you know.
He's an expert at worshipping a woman as if he needs her to breathe.
Then suddenly he can't bear the sight of her."
The statement was a painfully accurate description of my present reality with Gideon.
My pulse quickened.
His gaze slid to my throat, then back to my face.
His mouth curved in a mocking, knowing smile.
"You've experienced what I'm talking about.
He's going to continue to play with you until you rely on his mood to gauge your own.
Then he'll get bored and dump you."
"What happened between you?" I asked again, knowing that was key.
"Gideon Cross is a narcissistic sociopath," he went on as if I hadn't spoken.
"I believe he's a misogynist.
He uses his money to seduce women, then despises them for being shallow enough to find his wealth attractive.
He uses sex to control, and you never know what sort of mood you'll find him in.
That's part of the rush - when you're always steeling yourself for the worst, you psych yourself up for a surge of relief when he's at his best."
"You don't know him," I said smoothly, refusing to take the bait.
"And neither does your wife."
"Neither do you."
He sat back and drank his coffee, appearing as unruffled as I tried to be.
"No one does.