Song - Get the party started - Pink

I didn't know how this would end. Given how easily I crumbled when I saw Noah at his office, I could easily believe that I was going to forget all the anger and hurt I was feeling. But, I'd agreed to this. I said that I would meet with him. As the fake persona, I would walk into the house that used to be my home. Beyond that, I don't know what would happen.

"Well?"

"Just one heat source in the house," Roman murmured.

"And the next house?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Good."

Climbing off his bike, I pulled the helmet and handed it to him. Roman reached out, gripping my wrist.

"Be safe. Don't underestimate Noah for even a second. You know he wants you dead, and when he finds out that you're not, all of the pieces will fall into place. He will figure everything out and realise that you're to blame for it all. Don't give him that chance, Dani."

I nodded, giving Roman a grim smile. Pulling the bag over my shoulder, I emerged from the darkness and walked towards my former home. My heart was racing as the anxiety curled through me. My stomach turned, and my legs became weaker. Taking a deep breath, I desperately tried to rally my courage and determination.

As I approached the stairs to the front door, I looked up the street and saw another rider in the darkness. Like Roman, Jasper was dressed in black leather from head to toe with a dark helmet hiding his features. There would be other spies in the area. I knew that Roman had amassed a large group of vampires who were willing to do as he asked.

My legs were shaking as I walked up the three steps. Before I could knock on the door or press the bell, Noah opened the door.

"Hey, Milly, right?"

"Yeah," I said softly.

There was a fear swirling through my mind that he'd recognise my voice.

"Come in."

So far, so good. At least in terms of his obliviousness, it was. Internally, I was dying.

"I heard about your wife, my condolences."

Noah scoffed, grinning as he rolled his eyes. The door was shut, and now we were alone in an almost empty room.

"Don't worry about it. I never loved her, so it doesn't matter."

"Why did you marry her if you didn't love her?" I asked, despite how thick it felt my throat was.

Hearing that statement was enough to crush me into oblivion.

"It was a challenge. I wanted to know how long I could keep her around while subjecting her to the worst conditions while enjoying a bachelor life at Mon Crief."

If there was ever a statement that could seal Noah's fate, that was it. I was nothing but a game to him. It was my own fault for seeing the best in him, accepting the situation I was in, and doing nothing about it. Of course, it didn't mean that it was completely my fault or even my fault at all. Noah should not have married me. He was a monster of the worst kind.

"Speaking of which, I don't recall ever seeing you there."

I smiled despite the pain I felt in my heart. My world was crumbling around me, and because of this ridiculous need to make Noah pay for what he'd done to me, I had to endure it all.

"Really? I saw you all the time. You seemed more interested in Marnie, though."

"Yeah, she was a killer in bed."

I leaned against the only chair in the room, a single-seat leather recliner. The lounge and everything I'd destroyed were gone. Against the wall was a new television with one game console connected. The walls were repaired, and from what I could see, things had changed in the kitchen. The cupboard doors were gone, and the fridge was replaced. On the counter was an oven of some sort, probably temporary until he could organise something better.

"Have you just moved in?"

"Nah, those asshole vampires broke in and trashed the place. It wasn't easy trying to get things in and out of this place with the cops watching me."

Noah sauntered over and slid his hand over my thigh.

"Enough of that nonsense. I've got a new bed that I've been dying to break in."

"Sounds interesting."

Taking my hand, Noah led me up the stairs. This place really had been repaired quickly. I guess Noah didn't want the cops walking in here and seeing the mess. It was strange that they didn't search the place after I disappeared, though.

"What did the cops say about the vampires trashing the place?"

"Nothing, really. My father has a guy on the inside who deals with our problems and makes them disappear, so he came in, checked for fingerprints and then cleared the site."

"No cameras?"

"Well, there's one on the front door. I know we're supposed to have more, but we'd just finished renovating the place, and I hadn't gotten around to it."

He grinned wickedly at me.

"Don't you go telling my dad that."

"Oh, I wouldn't."

"As for the doorbell, it's usually on, but we didn't want the cops knowing that Steve hauled her limp body out of this place, so I turned the camera off. I kind of forgot about it."

He frowned, clearly thinking about the doorbell camera. I'd kept my attention turned away from it, believing it was working.

I looked around the almost empty room. It was vastly different from the way I'd decorated the room, which was interesting. There was no style or coordination. It seemed as if Noah had grabbed whatever he could and didn't put a single thought into it.

Pressing him against the metal footboard, I grinned and walked my fingers up his chest.

"And what about us?" I purred. "Are you going to record us tonight?"

"If I'd had more time to prepare, I would, but all my equipment is at the other house."

"Really?"

I pulled his tie loose, trying to ignore his hands moving over me. Why didn't he recognise the slopes and curves of my body? Regardless of what he truly felt for me, he still knew me. We still had sex, and he knew what I looked like underneath the clothes. It felt like he didn't know me at all.

"Yeah, I have a place in Kensington. Once I finish the repairs on this place, I'll get rid of it."

"Sounds reasonable."

Pulling the tie from his body, I grinned and held it between my hands for him to look at it.

"Feeling adventurous?"

"You want to tie me up?"

"The thought of seeing you trussed up on the bed has me melting."

Noah's eyebrow raised as the grin increased.

"Alright. There are more in the dressing room."

He began undoing the buttons on his shirt, tossing it aside as I walked into the walk-in robe. I pretended I didn't know where his ties were, searching through several drawers before finding the right one.

Emerging from the room, I stopped and grinned at Noah. He was on the mattress with the linen pulled back, down to the shorts he was already straining against. There was a time when a sight like that would have me happy, but right now, it was nothing but a knife to my heart. My husband was ready to have sex with a stranger mere weeks from the night his wife was supposedly abducted and murdered. I have spent weeks thinking that vampires were monsters, but it seemed I was wrong. The monster has always been in front of me but I never saw him for who he truly was.

Until now.