“The families announced their engagement this morning, Elli.” Her eyes soften and she sighs.
My shoulders shake. This morning? After he fucked me in this house. “Who?” I lick my cracked lips. The gag from our time in the basement yesterday was rough on them. “Who is it?”
“Amelia Cleary.” She smiles. “She’s lovely. The whole family. Her mother is a friend of mine.” She reaches up and pats the side of my cheek. “She’s the one who sold us this house.”
He’s marrying his chosen? My legs give out, and I fall into my seat once again. She kisses my cheek. “I’ll see you Thursday. We’ll do lunch.” Then she takes Lincoln’s hand and leaves my house. Their house?
It’s supposed to belong to me and Sin. How … What happened? He told me yesterday that I was his. He’s branded my inner thigh. He tattooed me …
“Look at that,” he whispers in my ear. His arms have to hold me up, my legs too tired.
Opening my eyes, I look over my shoulder to the mirror in the bathroom to see SIN across my lower back, right above my ass. It’s red and a little bloody. I whimper and he brings my face to look up at him while he stands in front of me. “You … tattooed me.” My voice is rough. I had an idea what he was doing. I could hear the buzzing and feel the needle in my skin. I got off on it. The pain, the fact that I knew he was claiming me again in his own way turned me on.
Cupping my cheek, his blue eyes search mine before he lowers his face, so close our lips almost touch. “You’re goddamn right I did.” I whimper. “It’s a reminder that you belong to me. Always have and always will.” Then his lips capture mine in a breathtaking kiss.
I refuse to believe he tattooed his name on me yesterday and then announced an engagement this morning. That’s not something you do on a whim. He would have known they were going to announce it.
“Sin?” I call out, my voice cracking in the now silent house.
Getting to my feet, I run to our bedroom. I open the closet door and my breath catches, all of his stuff is gone. No. This can’t be happening.
I run back to the bed and pick up my cell. I call his. “You’ve reached Sin—” Straight to voicemail.
I do it again. Same. I decide to call Kira. She answers on the second ring. “Where are you?” I rush out, not even waiting for her greeting. Entering the kitchen once again, I grab my car keys.
She yawns. “House of Lords.”
“Is Sin there?” I’m sliding a pair of shoes on that lay by the front doors. Bending over makes the skin across my back pull tight, reminding me of the tattoo that is now there for the rest of my life.
“I haven’t seen him.”
“Is his car there?” I demand.
“Elli—”
“Kira, please. Check for me.” I’m running down the steps and to my car parked in the driveway.
“Let me look.” She sighs. A moment later she answers, “Yes, it’s here…”
I hang up and smash on the gas, tossing my phone to the passenger seat. Making it to the house in ten minutes when on any given day it would take over thirty. I rush inside, ignoring the stares that the guys give me. I’m running down the hallway and shove his bedroom door open. It’s empty but his bathroom door is open. I enter to find him fresh out of the shower, jeans low on his hips. A towel in his hand drying off his hair.
“Is it true?” I ask, swallowing the knot in my throat, afraid of his answer. My mind telling me to shut the fuck up, turn around, and leave. To save myself the heartache that I already know is coming.
He lifts his head, those blue eyes harder than ever. The Sin I fell in love with. Would do anything for. Would let him do anything to me. The fact that I’ve got his name on my back proves just how far I’m willing to go to be his.
Ignoring me, he moves to stand in front of the mirror, giving me a side view. “I don’t have time for games,” is his monotone response.
Games? I grip his arm, yanking him to face me once again. “This isn’t a fucking game, Easton,” I snap. “Is it true?”
His jaw clenches and he looks away from me.
My breath catches. My hands lift to cover my mouth and I take a stumbling step back into the door, closing us in. “All of it?” I can’t help but ask. I need him to say it. He’s never been afraid to tell me the truth before, even if it hurt, so why is he avoiding answering me now? And why does it feel worse than if I knew he lied about it?
He turns to face me again, moving to stand in front of me. His eyes on mine. “Did you really think I loved you?”
Tears sting my eyes, and I feel like I just jumped off a high-rise, my stomach now in my throat.
“What did you think was going to happen, Ellington?” He uses my full name, making me whimper. Lifting his right hand, he takes a piece of hair between his fingers and twirls it around. “That I’d make you an honest woman? Have kids with you?” He snorts at that ridiculous idea.
The first tear falls down my cheek. He lets go of my hair to run his knuckles through it. “You’ve always been a whore, Elli. I’m a Lord. Will be a powerful one. And I’m going to make a woman a very respected Lady.” My stomach tightens. “You’re the kind of woman we fuck on the side. Not the one we come home to.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t move. My vision is fading in and out, and I think I’m about to lose consciousness. I never wanted to be a Lady, but for Sin? I’d be anything he wants me to be. And if I had to marry a Lord, I want it to be him. “I don’t believe you,” I say, shaking my head, refusing to process his words.
His blue eyes search mine and I take in a shaky breath. “You said you loved me,” I manage to get out.
He smiles, a sinister one that makes his eyes light up. “Those were just words, Elli. You’re the stupid girl who believed them.”
“You…” I take a second to swallow the knot in my throat. “You said that I belonged to you.”
His perfect lips that made me weak in the knees yesterday make the hairs on the back of my neck stand when they curve into a smile. “You’re right. I did say you belong to me, but I never said I belonged to you.”
“Sin?”
I stiffen as a female calls his name from inside his room as if God himself is laughing in my face for believing every word Sin ever said to me.
“One minute,” he answers, his voice louder to carry through the closed door we’re leaning up against, making me jump.
“We’re going to be late, babe. The caterer was able to work us in. I don’t want them to cancel on us,” she goes on.
Caterer? For what? Their wedding? He’s really marrying her? The girl he said he wasn’t cheating on me with? Was it cheating? Were we ever really together? My mother was right, I know the rules the Lords have but I stupidly believed that I was special. That he would pick me over her. Why? Because I was a fool for him?
She’s supposed to be his chosen. A chosen and a Lady are two very different things. And a Lord doesn’t always marry his chosen. So why her?
It’s soul-crushing to think I would ever get what I want. I never have before. Sin is no different.