From Mob Princess to Mugshot Photographer novel Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I shook my head. “No.”

“But I looked you up–you’re not married!”

Using his badge to run background checks on me. And he said it like it was perfectly normal.

My eyes dropped to his ring finger–naked now, but the tan line still there.

“True. But you are.”

“I’ll divorce her!”

He completely missed the point. Lunged forward, tried to grab my hand.

I stepped back, arms crossed..

“That’s not what I meant. What I’m saying is–you’re a married man. Act like it. And keep your wife the hell away from me.”

“Quinn went to see you?”

The moment Quinn’s name left his mouth, his expression went cold.

The exact same look he used to give me six years ago.

“Back then, Quinn told me I didn’t actually love you. That I’d just gotten too deep into character.”

His voice dropped lower.

“But I figured it out eventually. The cover was fake. What I felt was real.”

“I’ve been punishing myself for six years. Convinced you’d never come back. Convinced you’d never forgive me. So I said fuck

it and married her.”

“But when I saw you again, you said you didn’t hate me. It’s been years, Wren. Can’t we try again?”

The sudden confession was almost funny.

Not hating him doesn’t mean I forgive him.

It just means I’ve finally let go enough to live my own life.

I considered my words carefully. Kept my tone even:

“Remember that fat tabby that used to hang around campus? I fed him all the time.”

13:19 O

From Mob Princess to Mugshot Photographer: Smile, Ex

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Chapter B

The abrupt topic change confused him. He blinked.

“Yeah. Super friendly. You were obsessed with that cat.”

I nodded slowly.

“Then one day he flipped out and bit me. Deep. I had to get rabies shots–cried through every single one.

“Next time I saw him, he came running up, purring, rubbing against my legs like nothing happened. You told me then: ‘Stop wasting food on him. Some animals can’t be domesticated.“”

Zachary’s jaw tightened. He knew exactly where this was headed.

“That bite still hurts when I think about it. But do I hate him now? No. I don’t. He’s just an animal. What’s the point of holding a grudge against something that doesn’t know any better?”

Beat.

“But I’d never bring him home.”

All the color drained from Zachary’s face now.

He got it.

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