Focus on Revenge A Photographer’s Killer Shot novel Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Take them off for me.”

He interrupted, voice low, eyes darker than the night.

I knew what he wanted.

And I knew he wouldn’t let it go.

In this marriage, I had always been the one who gave in.

My chest ached. I bit my lip… and removed the glasses.

They landed softly on the nightstand.

His hand reached down, wrapping around my delicate ankle.

“Lights off.”

I reached up and flicked the lamp.

Darkness enveloped us.

And everything else became sharper. Louder. Deeper.

It had been a month since he touched me.

Tonight, he was intense. Almost brutal.

[ clenched my teeth, enduring it silently.

Outside, the snow fell harder, wind howling against the windows.

Time blurred.

When it was finally over, I lay there-drenched in sweat, limbs trembling, a dull ache blooming in my abdomen.

And fear.

My period hadn’t come. And something in my gut twisted tight.

“Vincent, I-”

He didn’t like the distraction. His touch grew rougher, silencing me.

Every breath I tried to take was stolen by his kiss-sharp, forceful, unrelenting.

By the time it ended, it was nearly dawn.

I was exhausted, my mind slipping in and out of consciousness. A dull ache settled in my lower abdomen-not sharp, but enough to keep me from falling into deep sleep.

Somewhere in the haze, I heard my phone ringing.

Chapter

I cracked my eyes open and watched as Vincent, now draped in a bathrobe, picked up his phone and walked into the bathroom.

The door clicked shut behind him.

I didn’t know how much time had passed when I heard a car engine downstairs.

He was gone.

When I woke the next morning, the space beside me was still cold.

I turned over and rested a hand on my belly.

The ache had passed.

My phone rang again-this time it was Lillian, Vincent’s mother.

“Come to the estate. Now.”

Her tone was clipped, commanding. Not a request, but an order.

Five years into this hidden marriage, I was used to her attitude.

The Williams family was the most powerful among New York’s Four Great Houses. And though I came from the Veyra family, I was

merely the unwanted daughter.

Our marriage had never been a fairy tale—it was the product of two transactions.

The first happened eight years ago.

My mother killed my father in a domestic violence incident-technically self-defense, but the Veyra family turned against her. My brother and grandmother led the charge, pushing for a death sentence.

When I tried to defend her, they crushed me.

I was alone. Cornered.

That’s when my professor suggested I go to Vincent.

The Williams family had more power than the Veyras could ever dream of.

And in court? Vincent had never lost a single case.

He got my mother an eight-year sentence.

The second deal happened three years ago, during my divorce.

I had married my college classmate, Ethan Johnson, after my mother went to prison.

The marriage ended in scandal.

The man I thought I could depend on betrayed me in the cruelest way-and I lost my unborn child at eight months. With my name dragged through the mud, abandoned, grieving, I turned to the only person I could think of:

Vincent.

He didn’t question why I had left him so abruptly years ago.

He simply agreed to take my case-but with one condition:

I had to marry him.

After the trial, we would marry in secret. I’d care for his adopted son until my mother was released.

That was the deal.

According to Vincent, Rowan was the son of his late best friend-a child orphaned by tragedy. He had taken Rowan in quietly. Few in the Williams family even knew the truth.

Now five years had passed.

My mother would be released in a month.

From the beginning, this marriage had a price tag. Clear terms. Mutual benefit.

hadn’t lost anything… not really.

But somehow, somewhere along the way… I gave my heart anyway.

shook the thought away and walked into the bathroom.

That creeping unease returned.

We always used protection. Always.

Except that one time-a month ago-when he came home drunk…

My phone rang again. It was my assistant, Betty.

We went over a few work matters, and after we hung up, I accidentally tapped a trending alert on the screen.

Vincent was trending.

More accurately-Vincent and Doris, the top actress of the moment.

Doris spotted with mystery boyfriend on romantic Paris getaway; pair returned together just last night#

he photo only showed a side profile of the man. Not even a full face.

But I recognized him instantly.