“What do you want from me?” I finally ask. “You got your money from my brothers. The deal was that you’d leave me alone.”
“I don’t remember any ‘deal,’” he hisses. “But I come here with a humble request.” He tilts his head and gives me a sad smile. “Come with me,Lily.”
It takes everything in me to stay silent and fight my instinct to say,There is no way I’d ever go anywhere with you.
“We were so good together,” he continues, almost pleading. “You and me, we made sense. It wasn’t until your brothers got involved that everything went sour.”
“If what we had was real, you wouldn’t have accepted a check from my brothers.”
He furrows his brow. “That’s not true, Lily. I really loved you. But when your brothers barged in, accusing me of taking advantage of you, what else did you expect? Do you think I could have said ‘no’ to Adam Stone?”
Yes, I think.Because Ryder wanted to stay by my side and face them together.
Tears prick my eyes. Why didn’t I listen to Ryder? Why didn’t I stay with him and stand up to Adam?
Why did I cower in fear—again?
Hot, angry tears fall down my cheeks. I’m furious—with Tristan, with my family, but most of all, with myself. I’ve been hiding away, letting everyone else shield me from harm, when everything was actually hurting me instead.
No more.
I’m done.
I won’t hide in fear again, starting now.
Tristan notices my tears and tilts his head. “Oh, Lily. Don’t cry. We can fix this all now,” he says.
“No,” I say firmly. “These tears aren’t for you.”
In an instant, his entire demeanor changes. Where he was once sympathetic and appealing, his grin turns menacing. “That’s right. They’re probably for, what’s his name, Ryder?”
I swallow, not wanting to give him anything.
“I know all about him,” he continues. “It’s a good thing Lucy was at the book club that night and sent me the picture of you two.”
Lucy. The new girl in the vintage dress. She was with Tristan this whole time?
“And then Calhoun finally made himself useful and got you sent here,” he says.
“Calhoun?” I repeat. “Mr. Calhoun was working with you?”
Tristan has the audacity to wink.
“We thought he was an expert,” I say. “We trusted him.”
“And that’s what made it work so well,” Tristan says. “No one is suspicious of a man with a face and voice like his.”
My mind is spinning. All along, Mr. Calhoun was working for Tristan, keeping me locked in the tower, sending me to the Flower Festival, and then sending me away from Brookhaven. Making me cut my hair.
Tearing me away from Ryder.
“Why?” I ask him.
“Why what?”
“Why do you care so much? Why keep ruining my life?”
His eyes narrow. “Because you took everything from me. Everything, Lily. And you need to suffer the way I’ve suffered.”
