“That’s such a relief,” I snap sarcastically. “I’m just tickled pink that my ex-husband has been sneaking into my house at night to evade dangerous Russian mobsters, despite the fact that I had the locks changed to prevent ever seeing him again!”
“Yeah… you should really start using your alarm system.”
An angry growl rattles from my throat. “So I’ve heard.”
“Anyway, who needs a key when you know about the basement window?” Paul shrugs lightly. “Remember — the one with the broken lock you were always harping on me to fix?”
Rage floods me in a great tidal wave, setting my blood boiling. I’m suddenly so angry, I’d like nothing more than to wrap my hands around Paul’s throat and squeeze the life out of his body.
The dirty-rotten, no-good, lying, cheating, breaking-and-entering bastard! As if everything he’s done to me isn’t bad enough…
Scheming with mobsters!
Putting me in the crosshairs!
Sneaking into my house!
To top it all off…
He.
Never.
Even.
Fixed.
The.
Damn.
Basement.
Window.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Paul must recognize that I’m about to blow a gasket, because he holds out his hands in a placating gesture. His tone is soothing. “Shelby, baby, you’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. I needed a place to crash for a couple nights, after those guys showed up at my apartment. I knew there was an old twin mattress up there. That’s all.” He pauses. “Plus, no one would ever think I’d be stupid enough to hide out in my own house.” He cracks a grin. “I thought it was a pretty genius idea, actually.”
“Geniuswouldn’t be the word I’d use, Paul.” My syllables are clipped — short staccato bursts of fury. “Psycho stalkermight be more accurate.”
“I was trying to do something good! Checking in every week or so, just to make sure you were safe! But around dawn, when I got here and realized you weren’t home… I got worried. Decided to stay, just to make sure nothing had happened to you.” His expression darkens. “I didn’t expect you’d come home with a fucking Fed in tow.”
“I wasn’t home because I was being interrogated by the FBI about the very large henchman who attacked me while they were looking foryou, you idiot!”
“I already said I was sorry for that.”
“An apology doesn’t exactly make it okay, Paul.” I shake my head in disbelief. “And I suppose while sneaking in here you conveniently forgot about the restraining order that prohibits you from coming within two hundred feet of me.”
“This is my house. You’re my wife. No piece of paper is going to keep me away.” His brown eyes narrow on mine. “We made vows.Till death do us part. In sickness and in health. For richer or poorer.You promised you’d be by my side, always.”
“That was before I knew you were a pathological liar,” I say bluntly. “Before you spent a decade womanizing, manipulating, and putting your hands on me without permission.”
“I’ll admit, I haven’t always been the perfect husband. We have some issues to work through…”
I snort.Understatement of the decade.
“But Shelbs, I need you by my side. I need you now more than ever!”