I shudder. “You think she committed suicide because you were divorcing her?”
“No. I think she was trying to scare me. But something went wrong and she ended up killing herself instead.”
“You don't think she really wanted to die?"
“Not for a second," he growls.
“Why?”
“She was too egotistical. She'd sooner kill me than kill herself. She was just hoping I'd feel bad about her attempt and take her back."
“How did you find out she was dead?”
“She sent a note,” he tells me. “Asked me to meet her at the Grand Centrale Hotel in the city. Room Twenty, I remember. I wasn’t prepared to deal with her fucking nonsense, so I sent Yulian instead.”
“And?”
“And he found her right where she said she'd be. But not in the state he expected."
“What happened after that?”
“Yulian disposed of her body and we buried her in memoriam the next day.”
He says it as though the story ends there. But I can see from his face that Marina’s ghost is still here, clinging to every facet of his life. Haunting him. Ravaging his mind, his soul.
And just like that, I find myself leaning into him. I don’t even think about the kiss—I just do it.
Our lips touch and, in an instant, the kiss is hungry. He grips my jaw and I curl my fingers in the hair at the back of his neck. I pull back only because I need to gasp for air.
“Does that mean you believe me?” he asks.
“Right now, I do,” I admit. “Ask me again tomorrow.”
He cups the side of my face with his palm. “I was going to divorce her, Jessa. Killing her was unnecessary. I can understand why you would have trouble believing me, but I’m not lying to you.”
Tears well in my eyes. “I think I know that now.”
“Is that why you didn’t tell me?” he asks.
I frown. “Tell you what?”
“About the baby.”
"Did I hit my head when I fainted?" I tease, chuckling nervously. “What baby?” He stares at me for a moment, and I get the feeling that I’m leagues behind him right now. “Anton… what baby are you talking about?”
Anton smooths his thumb over my check and then reaches down to grab my hand. “Jessa… the doctor that was in here before examined you…”
“What about him?”
He takes a deep breath. “He said you’re pregnant.”
"No, I’m not," I say instantly. "I just had my period back in…"
When? When was my last period?
I made sure to schedule the wedding in the middle of my cycle. Dane didn't want me to be on my period during the honeymoon. So I should've had it roughly two weeks after the wedding.
Except…