“Wasn’t sure about what?” I cut him off.
“Marrying Ellie.”
The words hit me like ice water, shocking me speechless. He knew? Liam thought about calling this off before today, and Stevenknew.
“I told him he needed to figure it out before they got married. I didn’t want Ellie to get hurt.”
“So you thought keeping that information to yourself and letting him leave her at the altar was okay?” My voice is loud now, disbelieving.
“No,” he refutes.
“So what, then? You were just hoping he’d still go through with it?”
“I thought maybe he had come to his senses. And I didn’t know if telling you would help if he ended up—”
“Stop.” I step back, disgust twisting my insides.
“Em, I’m sorry.” His voice is a pathetic whisper, a sound of a man I don’t even recognize.
“I can’t believe you kept something like this from me.” Tears sting my eyes at the betrayal. “You lied to me.”
“I didn’t—”
“You lied by omission. To me,” I choke out. “To protecthim?”
“Baby, please.” He reaches for me, but for the first time in our marriage, I yank away.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Emma…”
“Stay. Away.”
“Baby, come on. I’m not the one you should be mad at.”
He waves in Liam’s general direction, and Liam scoffs as he grabs his duffel bag and heads toward the valet counter.
“I am mad at you,” I tell him. “The fact that you kept something like this from me,knowingmy sister was going to get hurt? Are you kidding me?”
A shiver of revulsion runs over my skin at the memory of everywhere he touched me earlier, of the lingering desire clinging to the most sensitive parts of me. I shudder, furious that even betrayal can’t erase those feelings.
“Emma, please. I was trying to do the right thing, but I didn’t want to overstep.”
“Don’t. Don’t try to justify your lies with kindness. You lied to me, simple as that.” I turn back to the elevator. “And if you’ll lie about this, what else will you lie about? What else will you hide from me?”
“I wouldn’t. I haven’t,” I hear him say, but I don’t turn back.
I step into the open elevator, leaving him standing in the middle of the hotel lobby. Alone. His black suit jacket is rumpled, his red satin tie loose and crooked. The day’s mental load is etched into his face, deepening the lines around his eyes and accentuating the puffiness beneath them. It’s a sight that would usually make me feel for him, drop everything to get to him.
But not now.
His brown eyes hold mine, pleading for me not to leave. But I can’t stay.
This is how it begins. Sure, we might get over this by next month, but it’ll always be there. It will linger, causing damage. It’s a domino effect you see time and time again. The foundation you build your life on, your marriage, starts to weaken. Hairline fractures form, spreading under the weight of life, until it all starts to crumble. I just never believed it could happen to us.
But a crack has formed, and I have no idea where it will lead.
Chapter twenty-three
