“You knew,” I rasp, and it’s a statement. I don’t need to question it because the truth rings out between us.
She knew it was me wearing the mask.
How long has she known?
Has she known the entire time?
Why didn’t she just tell me, instead of leaving me a note and sending me texts?
Why would she…
The wording of the note and messages comes back to me then, and I realize that they all came back to one person.
Her brother.
Is that what she wanted to happen? Did she want her brother to find out?
It doesn’t make any sense, unless…
Unless it was all a lie, and this was her way of getting me to take a step back.
It always came back to her brother. The way she told him she was seeing someone, the way she threatened me with him… what, exactly, did she want to happen?
Was this entire thing just a game to her?
Was she trying to force Cole in the middle of our relationship, knowing that he wouldn’t acceptmeas someone who could love her? Was this her way of denying us? Was she so unable to voice her own opinion that she wanted Cole to do it for her?
“Why?” I demand, my voice cold even to my own ears. I’ve never spoken to Gracie like this, but it fuckinghurtsto know that everything between us was a lie. “Do you really hate me that much?”
Did she do all of this to fuck with me? Was she playing with me this entire time, using my feelings for her as a way to hurtme? None of this makes any sense, and I can’t stop the turbulent emotions from bubbling to the surface. She doesn’t answer me, all she does it stare at me, her eyes brimming with anger.
“Because that’s all I can come up with. Do you hate me, love? Or did you want your brother to find out and cut me out of both of your lives? Were you hoping the threat of him finding out would make me stay away from you? You could have told me, you know. You didn’t have to lie about our entirerelationship.” I sneer the last word and turn to face her fully, my face a blank mask as I feel my walls slipping into place. Pain, confusion and fury filling me. “I thought we were finally getting somewhere, but I guess I don’t know you nearly as much as I thought I did if you were able to do something so heartless like this. Jesus fuck, Gracie. I thought you were indanger, but really, you were just playing some sick game with me.”
My kind, sweet, loving Gracie did this.
She hurt me like this.
The one person on this earth who I didn’t think was capable of something so callus stabbed me in the back like I meant nothing to her.
“Ourrelationship?” she sneers, a look I never imagined I’d see on her face. “Our relationship was nothing but a lie from the beginning. A deception. A manipulation. You’re the one who started us on this path, Noah. I was just the one to end it.”
FORTY-SEVEN
GRACIE
Rage and resentment swirl within me as I stare at Noah.
The fucking audacity of the man to say thatIam the one who has been lying about this shitshow of a relationship would be laughable if I wasn’t seething right now.
“You don’t mean that,” he whispers, and this time, I do laugh. I throw my head back, cackling to the ceiling as my body trembles with the need to free myself from this bed.
I cut myself off abruptly and turn my head back to him, finding him standing near the foot of the bed, a look of utter incredulity on his face, as though he has no idea how his words are so comical.
“I mean every word I say, Noah. You’ve done nothing but lie to me since the beginning. You hid who you were, you pretended to fucking protect me when I was terrified, all the while making me fall for you. Itrustedyou, and you threw that trust back in my face with every text, every time you snuck into my dorm, every time you freaking looked at me. You broke me, and so I decided I wanted to break you, too. Things may have changed since my initial reaction to finding out it was you behind the mask, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t hurt me by doingwhat you did. Your actions aren’t excusable, and I’m honestly surprised you can look yourself in the mirror every day, knowing what you did and what you’ve continued to do since this all started.”
His face hardens, his eyes darkening as he stares at me. “You knew it was me this entire time, didn’t you? Is that why you left the notes and sent the texts?”
I chuckle dryly. “Of course, I knew. You’re not nearly as deceptive as you seem to think you are. Did you really think you guys could put cameras in the hall outside my dorm without me demanding access to them? Did you really think this could go on for so long without me figuring it out? What did you think would happen, Noah? Did you think that you would reveal yourself to me and I’d cry out in joy that it was you all along? Did you think I would just accept it? You really are fucked in the head if you think I would have just let you get away with it.”
