Chapter 47

Gavin’s POV

Erin sat curled up on the couch; she had a suitcase with her. Whatever happened, it must have been far worse than Gavin could imagine.

“I don’t know whom to trust anymore…” she breathed after a long while of not speaking.

“You can always trust me,” Gavin said, reaching his hand out to touch hers. She tensed at his touch, but she relaxed soon enough. “What’ happened?” He finally asked her.

They were alone in the living room, just how he wanted it. Beta Seth was kind enough to give them some space.

Gavin had ordered one of his workers to get her some tea, so she’s been sipping it gradually, trying to warm her cold body.

She slowly explained the entire story from when she found out that Susanna was lying about the pregnancy, to when Susanna stabbed herself.

His suspicions of that were correct despite how unsettling that sounded.

“She’s insane, Gavin…” Erin croaked, meeting his eyes. “I’m worried about what she would do to you if she’s capable of something as insane as that.”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Gavin said, shaking his head. “I’m more worried about you. Her men are still searching for you. They won’t stop until you are behind bars…”

“Or dead…” she managed to say.

“I’m not going to let either happen,” he said firmly.

“By the way, hos is Susanna?” Erin asked; he knew this was the question she’s been dreading. She left the scene of the crime so quickly, she probably had no idea if Susanna lived or not.

“She’s alive,” Gavin answered. “She’s going to be okay.”

She sighed with relief and nodded as she leaned back on the couch.

“There was so much blood…I thought…”

“I know…” Gavin said, not wanting her to finish that sentence.

“I would never do what she claimed I did,” she told him, meeting his eyes. She didn’t have to say that for him to know. “I never touched her…”

“You don’t have to keep telling me that,” Gavin said, stopping her words. “I know you didn’t touch her. I know you, Erin.”

She gave him a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“I have something for you,” she said to him as she began unzipping the front pocket of her suitcase.

He waited patiently for her to pull out a small packet, neatly stapled together and folded.

“It’s proof that she’s been lying,” Erin said, handing him the packet.

Now, he was shocked.

She had actual proof? How had she gotten this?

“Because I followed her the other day. She spent hours at her doctor’s appointment, so I went in, pretending to be Henry’s assistant, and asked for the results of whatever tests she had done. It was a negative pregnancy test along with the procedure to get pregnant. She’s been using your sperm to try to get pregnant, but it hasn’t been working. This is proof that she lied about being pregnant from the beginning.”

“I’m sorry you had to see this,” he said to her as she scanned the papers. “I’m sorry you had to do this alone.”

“I came here to show them to you but she was here…” she continued. “That’s when she…”

“Stabbed herself,” Gavin finished the sentence for her.

She nodded.

“I guess she felt cornered; like she had no other option,” she said, shaking her head with dismay written all over her face. “She wanted to get me out of the way. She said this whole thing was Henry’s idea…”

“Do you believe her?”

“I don’t know,” Erin admitted. “I don’t want to believe her. But I must admit that I don’t trust him anymore.”

“And me?”

“What about you?” Erin asked, raising her brows.

“Do you trust me?”

She was quiet for a long while as she thought about how to answer his question. She searched his serious face with her eyes for a moment before her gaze shifted downward until they reached her hands. She tugged at her fingers nervously, chewing on her bottom lip until it was red and swollen.

What he wouldn’t give to taste her lips once again. He missed the feeling of her body pressed against his; the scent of her flesh and the taste of her mouth.

“I trust you as much as I can,” she admits, meeting his eyes. “You’ve always been truthful toward me, and I appreciate that. You never gave me a reason to not trust you. I guess that’s why I’m here…”

He reached across the couch, touching the back of her hand with her fingertips. It felt like an eternity since they’d sat in the same room with one another.

Her skin was just as soft as it was days ago; her flesh left a warm sensation across his body.

Her nose and cheek area began to grow a little pink as she peered up at him; many thoughts were running through her mind at that moment, and he wanted to know everything she was thinking.

The thought of using his powers on her and getting her thoughts easily occurred to him. but he knew it would only upset her.

“You know, Susanna and I are over, right?” He said to her, keeping his eyes steadily on hers.

He could practically hear her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

“I’m still married,” she told him, breaking her eyes from his and gazing back down at her hands, tugging at her fingers. “Nothing can happen between us.”

She was still going with the “married” card. They both knew their marriage was nothing more than a spoken agreement. She wasn’t anymore married than he was.

Why was she still denying him?

“Then why are you here?” Gavin found himself asking her. “With a suitcase?”

Her body stiffened and she glanced down at her bags.

“I wanted to warn you about Susanna,” she told him. “And about Henry. As I said, I’m not sure what they are up to.”

“It’s not much of a marriage if you don’t trust your own husband,” Gavin said, furrowing his brows together. “Are you sure everything is, okay?”

She was quiet for a moment longer.

“We got into a fight,” she finally admitted. “Another fight. At this point, it just seems never-ending. I’m exhausted and I’m not sure what else to do.”

“So, you left?” He asked, gazing at her bags before meeting her eyes again. “For good?”

“I don’t know for good…” she said. “But for now, yes. I wasn’t sure what else to do. I don’t really have anywhere else to go. But I’ll figure it out as I go. I just couldn’t stay there though. Not with how things have been lately.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, feeling annoyed toward Henry.

He couldn’t even be a man and allow her to stay in their home?

He had to take everything from her?

The thought was infuriating.

“So, you have absolutely nowhere to stay?” Gavin asked, raising his brows at her.

She didn’t answer, but she shook her head.

“Then, how about you stay with me?”