‘Joseph mocked her for it.’
I only pretended to want you so I could take your virginity.
‘He made her feel dirty for wanting to wait.’
But that kiss...is overrated.
‘He weaponized her choice every chance he got.’
You’re fired. Now get out.
‘Veil.’ His mother’s hands were shaking now. ‘Tell me.’
“I told her—” His voice cracked. Broke. He had to force the words out like shards of glass. “I told her I only pretended to want her so I could take her virginity.”
His mother’s hands dropped to her sides.
“I told her the kiss was overrated. I fired her. I told her to get out.”
Silence.
The kind that follows a detonation.
‘She came to you.’His mother’s signs were slow now, each one weighted with something worse than anger.‘She came to apologize. She kissed you. That girl was so terrified of trusting another man, and she chose to be brave, and you—’
“I know.”
‘You used the exact same weapon he used.’
“I know.”
He had no words to defend himself. And frankly, he had no intention of doing so either. Nothing he did was worth defending.
But even so...
Geena wasn’t surprised when her son excused himself and walked out of the study without another word. That look on his face said everything. He was going to grovel, and she prayed—oh, how she was praying now—that it was not yet too late for the both of them.
