Page 88 of King of Rage

Lucius froze.

The hand he had raised in accusation remained suspended for a moment before slowly dropping to his side. His expression emptied of anger, replaced by complete bewilderment as he stared at Shane.

Shane leaned back against the pillows, folding his arms across his chest as he gave Lucius a tired, impatient look.

“Stella and I agreed to pretend to be married because of my personal problems,” he explained. “I needed the protection of the people she’s connected to to keep my sister and me safe. The man who’s after me has been watching my movements, and I needed him to believe that being Stella’s husband would put me under the protection of the same powerful people she’s connected to. That would make coming after me a lot more dangerous for him.”

He paused, glancing briefly at Stella before continuing.

“I needed to stall him. I needed him to believe that if he came after me, he’d be going up against people he couldn’t afford to cross.”

His gaze returned to Lucius.

“So I asked Stella to pretend to be my wife. If he believed I was married to her and living under the protection of the people around her, he’d have to think twice before making a move. And while he was focused on me, my sister could stay out of his reach. He can’t keep his attention on two targets at once.”

Lucius slowly turned toward Stella, his brows pulling together.

“You agreed to this?” he demanded. “You actually agreed to pretend to be this man’s wife and live with him for over a fucking year?”

“Lucius, it wasn’t like that,” Stella said, reaching for his arm.

He pulled away, still struggling to process what he had heard.

“I don’t give a fuck how it was.” He dragged a hand through his hair, his frustration returning. “You could’ve been killed because of this ridiculous arrangement.”

“But I wasn’t,” Stella replied quietly.

Lucius stared at her, his lips pressing into a hard line. He clearly wanted to argue, but the anger in his eyes had begun to give way to something else.

Relief.

Stella and Shane had never been together. Their marriage had been nothing more than an arrangement, and she had never chosen Shane over him. The realization eased something inside Lucius that had been twisted painfully tight for the past year.

Then Shane’s expression grew more thoughtful. He glanced between Stella and Lucius before speaking again.

“She didn’t leave you because she stopped loving you.”

Lucius’s head turned sharply toward him.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Shane looked at Stella. She stiffened immediately, her fingers curling nervously at her sides.

“She left because she wanted to bury her feelings for you,” Shane explained. “She thought staying away from you was the only way she could move on.”

Lucius slowly turned toward Stella.

For a moment, he said nothing. He simply stared at her, searching her face as though he was afraid to believe what Shane had told him.

“You were in love with me?” he asked, his voice suddenly stripped of its anger.

Stella’s eyes flickered with uncertainty. “Lucius—”

“You still love me?” he repeated, stepping closer.

She swallowed, her gaze dropping as emotion tightened her throat. She wanted to answer him, but the words refused to come.

Lucius watched her in silence for a few seconds. Then her silence gave him the answer he had been desperate to hear.