“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he whispered into my hair.“I love you.I promise, I love you.”
“Stop.You don't love me...You are a liar and you made me...I LOVED you!”I couldn't control my voice; it didn't even sound like me anymore.
“Please, Cassidy.Listen to me.You still do love me,love, not loved.Youneedto listen to me.”
“Get off me...”I tried to push free, but he was so much stronger and wouldn't let go.
Like he knew the second I was free, we were done.
“I was forced into it,” he said.“I didn’t love her.She got pregnant, and our families made it sound like it was the only option.Her dad is a major investor in my company.My mom said I couldn’t walk away.That it would ruin everything.That I had to do what was right.”
I froze.Trembling."You have a baby?No...no, you have a baby..."I choked out.I thought I was going to be sick in his arms.
“She lost the baby a month after the engagement,” he went on.“And I felt, God, I feltrelieved.That’s how twisted it all was.I didn’t even know if she’d been pregnant at all.”
I whimpered, trying to breathe.
He was crying now, too.I could feel it in the way his voice cracked.In the wet warmth against my cheek.
“I didn’t want that life.Itriedto make it work.But I couldn’t.She’s cruel, Cassidy.Manipulative.She’s cheated.Lied.Used me.”
“Soleaveher,” I cried.
“I’m trying.But it’s not simple.She has the power; her family has power.I was...am stuck.”
“And then you met me,” I said bitterly.
“And then I metyou,” he whispered.“And everything made sense again.You made me want things I’d given up on.You made me feelalive.You areeverythingto me, Cassidy.”
I sobbed harder.
“I didn’t cheat on you,” he said.“Because I was never reallywithher.Not in the way that mattered.”
“But youaremarried.”
“I am married,” he admitted.“But it’s over.It’s been over for years.I just, I didn’t want to lose you before I could find a way out.”
“You made me a secret.”
“No,” he said fiercely.“I made youmine.I wanted our story to beours.Before anyone else got to taint it.I didn’t want them to take you from me, too.”
I shook my head, choking on a sound..a word maybe...a plea.“You made me avillain,” I whispered.“A homewrecker.”
“No,” he said, lifting my face to his.“You’re thetruth.The first real thing I’ve felt in years.”
He stood and pulled me up with him, carried me to bed.
I tried to resist, to push him away.I couldn't think, wrapped up in him, but he wouldn’t let me.He curled around me, his body anchoring mine as I trembled in his arms.
“I love you,” he murmured.“I’ll stay.Tonight.I’ll stay.You are it for me, Cassidy.My everything.I will give you your happily ever after, baby, I promise.”
I didn’t believe him.
Not really.
But I was too broken to move.
So I let him stay.
