Burning Your Lies (King and Queen Duet #2)

26

Xavier

Brynn’s smile reaches me across the room. She and Ray sit in an awkward silence as they watch the charity gala play out in front of them. Brynn wears my mother around her neck with elegance. Of course, she doesn’t know it’s my mother. And when people paid compliments to her, she smiled with gratitude.

I also saw Savannah eye the piece. When I caught her staring, she lifted her shot glass in a cheers motion and poured it down the hatch. In fact, Savannah is drinking heavily tonight. As she got tipsy, I noted that I have never seen her drunk. And a drunk Savannah is obnoxiously loud and filled with laughter. She and Francesca have been stuck at the bar, ordering a fresh drink before the current one is finished.

I wonder what spat the lovers had before they arrived. Ray is quieter than usual. They aren’t glued to one another as they usually are.

Making the most of it, I stride towards them with a friendly smile.

“Francesca.”

Her glossy eyes struggle to focus on me.

“Xavier. How are you?”

“Very well. I trust Ray is treating you well.”

In her inebriated state, she snorts.

“He’s always so grumpy.”

She holds Savannah’s knee.

“How do you deal with it?”

For some unbeknownst reason, that makes Savannah roar with laughter.

“I suck his cock. That cheers him up.”

She gasps.

“When I was first his PA, Kingsley asked me out.”

Francesca slaps her thigh and cackles.

“I remember that!”

“Hux was so mad, he made me crawl across the office to him.”

She wipes under her eyes and she laughs so hard she can’t breathe.

“I was so ready to fuck him that day, right there in the office.”

Her drinking buddy gasps and then sighs.

“What happened?”

“Xavier walked in!”

She talks about me, as if I’m not standing right there.

“What a cock block. He was livid at seeing me on my knees. It’s okay though. A few months later, I was in his office sucking his dick.”

Her mouth drops open.

“What? When?”

she hisses.

I grab Savannah to get her to shut her mouth, but I’m pushed away without even a glance.

“After the board meeting. Remember when—”

“That’s enough story time,” I growl.

Her bloodshot eyes squint.

“Xavier? It’s Xavier! Hi!”

She’s laughing again.

Dealing with drunk Savannah is quite demanding. Emery was a subdued drunk. She went quiet and sad. Savannah is attracting too much attention to herself and with the way her mouth is running, she is going to confirm the affair to everyone present.

I pull her onto the dance floor and away from Francesca, who is still in a state of shock. I hold her close.

“You’re drunk,” I mutter.

“No, I’m not.”

Her serious face crumbles.

“Okay. Maybe I’m a little drunk.”

She follows my gaze to our respective partners, watching us.

“I see she’s wearing the necklace.”

“Does that make you jealous?”

Please say yes.

Her brown eyes study my face.

“Do you remember the last time we were here? I was wearing a green dress very similar to this one. One of us was married. We danced to a live orchestra just like this one. Huxley was sitting with another woman. Not much has changed, huh?”

“I remember what happened after the dance was done.”

“Me too,”

she whispers.

“Am I stupid to think those were the simpler days? The hardest decision was whether I wanted you or him.”

“Who did you want?”

I ask, almost afraid of the answer.

She stops swaying and holds her head.

“I’m going to be sick. Xavier.”

My name comes out muffled as she covers her mouth using her clutch bag.

Grabbing her hand, I pull her out of the hall and up the stairs to a private room. I hold her hair back as she dry heaves into the bin.

“Anything?”

Savannah slumps onto the floor. “No,”

she groans.

“I need to lie down.”

As she says that, she gets comfortable on the floor.

Wanting an excuse to feel her bare skin and lay next to her, I scoop her into my arms and carry her to the bed. I lay her down gently, enjoying the view as she spills out of her dress.

“There you go.”

My fingers brush over the despicable marks he left on her soft skin. Savannah is a rare diamond, not one that deserves these scratches to ruin her perfection.

She looks around the room and laughs.

“Why is there a bedroom in this place?”

“It’s a wedding venue. The wedding party can book these rooms to get ready in.”

Seeing her laid across a bed has my mind conjuring up indecent images of the two of us. The pads of my fingers run up and down her arm.

“Sometimes the couple spend their wedding night here. I’ve heard the view is spectacular.”

The soft huskiness in my voice lulls her eyes closed.

“What did you do on your wedding night?”

I trace her dress’s deep neckline.

“I undressed my wife. I told her how beautiful she looked.”

My god, Savannah is fucking perfection.

“I kissed her shoulder as my fingers explored her body.”

I lay my head next to hers and kiss her bare shoulder.

“And then I fucked her.”

She turns her head and stares at me.

“Slow or fast?”

I find it hard to breathe with the way she’s looking at me. It’s like we’re trapped in a bubble where the past doesn’t exist and there is nobody threatening our love.

“Started slow.”

I inch closer.

“By the end, I was drenched in sweat.”

Her hand tenderly touches my face. She giggles as my facial hair tickles her palms.

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

“Very much,”

I whisper.

“Did you think she was your forever love?”

“I wanted … no. I needed her to be. But she failed me and our marriage.”

She turns away from me, closes her eyes and sighs.

“Why couldn’t you be a good one? I wanted you so bad. We could have been so happy.”

There’s a wistfulness in her voice that has me wishing I could erase my past.

I turn her face back towards me.

“I’ll make it all go away. Let me show you how happy I can make you.”

“I can’t forget that you killed her,”

she whispers.

“When I close my eyes, I see her. I am paralysed by the betrayal in her eyes. How could you do that, Xavier? How could you kill your wife in cold blood?”

“It wasn’t cold blood. It was an act of passion. I love you so much, Savannah. I killed her because I wanted you.”

Her gaze is too heavy for me to bear. The raw honesty of our conversation has sobered her up enough to have pain written all over her.

“That is exactly why I can never be happy with you. Being loved by you risks the lives of everyone else I love. The second you feel threatened by them, they’ll be gone. Just like Elliot.”

All I can think about it how much I want to kiss her. However, Savannah is adamant about convincing herself that I am no good for her. But all she needs is a reminder of all the evil I saved her from.

“I protected you from him. He was a bloodsucking creature who only used you. He only ever brought trouble to your door. Killing him was the only way to stop the cycle.”

“I loved him. The cost of that was his life.”

Pushing her hair away, I study her face.

“I won’t apologise for doing what I had to.”

She holds my hand.

“Tell me how you did it. How did you kill him? Was he in pain?”

I’ve always known, not knowing has been killing her. It’s the one thing I’ve had over her head. It’s the bait that will keep her swimming around me. But in her drunken state, I know she won’t remember a thing.

“I told him I’d pay his debt off. I gave him the bank details of the account I set up for him in Bali. I explained the terms and conditions of accepting the money. He didn’t even hesitate, Savannah. He signed so fast and it angered me. I swallowed my emotions and gave his plane tickets. Once I had evidence of him entering the airport, I called him and told him I forgot to give him something to access the Bali bank account. I promised to book him onto another flight for later that day. Fueled by greed, he met with me.”

She’s not blinking. Barely even breathing.

“And then?”

“I strangled him. He fought hard if that makes you feel any better. He really tried to hard to live. His eyes were so alive even in his death. They were wide with fear. One of the last things he said was I knew it. I told Savannah. And then he cried out for you. He cried like a little bitch, knowing he was going to die.”

Her chest rises and falls as my words hang in the air. When her eyes close, I worry that she’s fallen asleep. Her face is marked by a single tear. Just as I go to erase it, her eyes open and she’s sitting up.

“Thank you. This has proven to be very useful.”

I lay frozen as she pushes me off her and climbs off the bed. She’s looking in the mirror and fixing her hair. Digging into her bag, she pulls her phone out and ends the voice recording.

Cold rage courses through me as she smirks down at me. I sit up and scowl. “You…”

I can’t form another word. She played me like a fiddle.

“Did you really think I’d be such a messy drunk?”

She tuts at me.

“I have much more class than that. I honestly thought you would have seen through it when I said I wanted you. But you’re so desperate, it’s pathetic.”

“I saw you drink,”

I blurt out, still trying to make sense of how she fooled me.

Savannah rolls her eyes.

“You saw me drink shots of water and juice. I kept wondering how I was ever going to find out about Elliot. And then the idea just popped into my head. Xavier Rivers has never seen me drunk before. I knew all I had to do was get you all alone and feeling like you saved me again.”

She waves her phone at me.

“And now I have a recorded confession.”

“That won’t hold up in court,”

I argue.

“It won’t even be admissible.”

“We’ll see about that.”

She takes predatory steps towards me and leans down so her lips are millimetres from mine.

“What was it I said this time two years ago when you fucked me for the first time?”

I hope you were satisfied with my service, Mr Rivers.

She laughs at my silence.

“I should tell you, I am much more satisfied tonight. Thank you, Mr Rivers.”

As she walks out of the room, I can barely see straight. She knew my ultimate weakness was her, and she preyed on it. Every fibre of my being is quaking in anger. My hands form fists, wishing it was her neck between them. They slam into the wall as I let out a scream. I catch my reflection in the mirror and am haunted by the look on my face.

I crack my neck and straighten my attire. My shoulders brace back and I stand taller. Nobody plays me.

I calmly rejoin the party. I don’t look for her because I’m too busy locating Rowan. He catches my gaze and smirks at me.

“Savannah just came from the same direction,”

he teases.

“Get the job done.”

To anyone looking our way, we merely look like spectators watching those on the dance floor. But it is only us that feels the tension brewing in the little distance between us.

“Don’t tell me what to do, Mr Rivers. I am not your employee.”

“When I pay you for a job, that makes you my employee,”

I fire back.

“I want her dead.”

He doesn’t respond, too busy watching Ray and Savannah with a calculating look. The couple share hushed words before he leads her out of there. Savannah wears a troubled expression as she follows closely behind him.

This has a smile gracing Rowan’s lips.

“I have other plans for her.”

“Like what?”

He peers at me from the corner of his eyes. The knowing glint in them only irks me further.

“Like one of those secrets you said you could find. You touch a hair on her head, and it will be me you’re playing a game with. Understood?”

We lock eyes, challenging each other to yield. I almost ask him what he could want with Savannah, but a man of my stature doesn’t beg for information. He finds it himself.

Our staring match is broken when Brynn stands in front of me. Her fingers are twisted into a knot and she can barely hold my gaze. “Xavier?”

I force myself to sound calm.

“What’s wrong?”

As if my night can’t get any worse, her fingers touch her bare neck.

“I lost your necklace.”