Something in my desperation must have struck her, because she stilled.
Then, she nodded.
But I wasn’t stupid.
“I mean it,” I warned. “If you scream, I will restrain you again.”
Another nod.
“Okay.” I exhaled, releasing her. “I’m going to let go now, and you won’t holler. Got it?”
She gave one last nod, her jaw tight.
I removed my palm?—
And before I could blink?—
Her hand flew across my face, the crack of the slap ringing through the room.
My head snapped to the side from its sheer force.
“You’re a liar,” she seethed, her voice quivering with heartbreak. “I don’t believe you! You broke my heart!”
She started to sob, the sound ripping through me.
I caught her wrists, pinning them above her head, my breath ragged.
“You have to believe me, sweetheart,” I murmured, my voice raw, desperate. “Everything I did was for you.”
She kicked wildly, her body twisting beneath me like a wildcat, her sobs turning guttural, violent.
“I don’t believe you!” she shrieked, thrashing with strength. “You destroyed me, Marcellious! This marriage is over!”
The words hit harder than the slap did.
“You can’t mean that,” I whispered.
Her glistening eyes locked onto mine, filled with pain and betrayal.
“I can, and I do.”
A sob racked her body, her face twisting with devastation.
“You betrayed me,” she choked out. “You slept with Dahlia?—”
My stomach dropped.
“—and you cast our love aside.”
Fat tears streamed into her tangled hair, her entire body trembling beneath me.
A painful tightness gripped my throat.
My own eyes moistened.
“I never slept with Dahlia,” I said, my voice hoarse. “I swear it, Emily. I know you don’t believe me, but I love you—with everything I am. Everything I did was for you.”
Her jaw clenched, her chest rising and falling in ragged sobs.
