“You locked up Robert! As if he were your enemy! How could you?”

Cain stiffened visibly. “I’m afraid that’s my business. I have to protect myself.”

Faye felt tears of frustration well up and pushed them down. “Robert is my friend! He’s an honorable man! He’s not your enemy.”

Cain widened his stance, bringing his hands to his hips as if he wanted to intimidate her with his physicality. “Then why was a copy of the palace’s blueprints found in his possession, together with an envelope with an address in Mississippi?”

Faye instinctively took a step back and pressed her hand against her chest. “You think he’s a traitor?”

“What else am I supposed to think given the evidence?”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Robert would never do that. He’s loyal to you. It’s all a mistake.”

“The evidence doesn’t lie.”

“Robert wouldn’t betray you. He was my support all this time. He was there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on. He’s not a traitor. You have to believe me. Somebody must have set him up.”

“You sound like him. He claimed that somebody planted the blueprints.”

“You must believe him,” she pleaded.

“How can I do that when in the same breath he admitted to having addressed the envelope himself? Thomas compared the address with Robert’s ledger. It’s his handwriting. Without a doubt. He did this, Faye. You’re wrong about Robert. He wanted to sell sensitive information to the Mississippi clan to help them attack me. Most likely assassinate me.”

Faye shook her head, trying to drown out his words. “No! You’re wrong. Robert hates the Mississippians. He despises their practices. No way in hell would he sell information to them.”

“Please stay out of this, Faye. Clearly, it upsets you. Let me handle this.” He reached for her, but she shrank back.

“Stay out of it? So that’s how it’s gonna be between us, is it?”

Cain narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Are you really that blind?”

He clenched his teeth and took a step toward her. “What is going on, Faye? Why are you behaving like this?”

“Because of how you’re behaving. This relationship is a farce.”

An expression of shock spread over his face as fast as wildfire engulfed a forest during drought season. “You can’t mean that. You and I, we are amazing together. We have great—”

“Sex?” Faye spat, interrupting him. “Oh yes, we have great sex. But that’s all we have.” She scoffed. “We have fabulous mind-blowing sex and then you turn away and close yourself off as soon as I want to talk to you. You don’t share anything with me. What happened to you while you were gone?”

Cain evaded her gaze. “It’s complicated.”

“See!” She pointed her index finger at him. “You’re doing it again. You’re shutting me out and refuse to answer any of my questions about what happened during the year you were gone.”

Cain sighed. “Faye, please, baby—”

“Don’t call me baby. It clearly means nothing to you. Because beyond sex, there’s nothing between us. You don’t give a damn about my feelings. You make no effort getting closer to me, and you thwart every single one of my attempts to understand you. What do you want from me?”

“Faye, you’re my fiancée.”

“I don’t care about being your fiancée. I want to be the woman you love. I want to be your confidante again. But you’re shutting me out. And I can’t pretend any longer that I can live like this.”

There was a hitch in his breath. “What are you saying?”

“I can’t come to your bed and have you make love to me when you don’t mean it. Hell, you can’t even say that you love me, can you?”

Cain lifted his hand as if reaching for her, but dropped it again. His lips parted to speak, but no words came out.

“I knew it.”

“But you must know how I . . .”

“What must I know? I know nothing, Cain, nothing at all. Because you’re not telling me anything. All I know is that you can’t tell me that you love me.” And that thought hurt the most. Despite the physical intimacy they’d shared in the last few days and nights, emotionally they were farther apart than ever before.

“You’re overreacting.”

“Am I?” How dare he marginalize her concerns? “Release Robert, and I’ll give you another chance to explain, but don’t expect me to warm your bed again. I’m not going to marry a man who doesn’t love me, no matter who he is. If you can’t tell me that you love me and mean it, then you and I have no future together. Make your choice, because mine is made.”