“Don’t lie to me. Or to yourself. Just because your perfect family fantasy, the white picket fence, the fairytale façade, has already shattered. They know now. They know what we were. What we did.”
She moves closer, her eyes burning.
“Yes,wedid. Because I wasn’t alone any of those times.” Her voice gives way, fury and heartbreak colliding. “Don’t try to deny it now that everyone knows the man you really are.”
I don’t answer. I can’t.
Because she’s right. At least about that.
For a while, I did like it. The control. The power. The illusion, carefully built, that I could take whatever I wanted and never face the consequences.
And that’s what makes it unforgivable.
When her hand drifts to her stomach, that same nauseating gesture she’s used before, something inside me snaps.
“Stop touching your stomach like that,” I hiss. “You think it’s going to make me feel something? You think it’s going to make me want this? I don’t want you. And I sure as hell don’t want that child. All it does is remind me how far I’ve fallen, how much I disgust myself for ever letting you in.”
She folds her arms around her stomach, protective, like she’s trying to save what’s already gone.
“It doesn’t matter how I got into your life,” she says, her voice wavering. “I love you, Colin. I do. From the moment you touched me, I knew. You’re the first man I’ve ever loved. And now I carry the proof of that love inside me.”
“Don’t tell me you love me,” I snarl. “You don’t know me. Tell me one thing you know about me.One thingbeyond how I like my cock sucked.”
“Stop talking to me like I’m a whore!”
I let out a cold, humorless laugh.
“No. You’re not a whore,” I say, cruelty tightening my mouth. “Whores are smarter. They get paid. You just spread your legs for delusional ideas and pitiful revenge plans.”
I give her a long, cold look, taking her in from head to toe, and the memories hit like a punch. Every time I touched her. Every moment I let myself want her.
“Every time I thought about being with you, all I felt was regret,” I say, my jaw tight. “But now? Now it’s pure disgust.”
I step closer. My voice drops.
“Don’t show up at my company again. Don’t call. Don’t email. Don’t so much as breathe near anyone in my family. If you do, having you blacklisted across the state, across the country, will look like mercy. And that will be the least of your problems if you open your mouth about me, the company, or my family again.”
She doesn’t move. She just stares, trembling, her hand resting over her stomach.
I turn and walk out without another word.
The sound of my own footsteps follows me down the hall, each one a reminder of my role in the destruction of my family.
Chapter 17
All for nothing.
Maya
The door slams.
The sound makes me flinch. For a moment, I just stand there. Motionless. Staring at the space where he stood. I can still smell him—a cruel reminder of memories that no longer fit.
And then it lands.
My legs give out before I can catch myself. I stumble back, hitting the couch hard, and a sound breaks out of me that I don’t recognize. It just won’t stop.
Tears blur everything.
