My jaw clenches so tightly it feels as though my teeth might shatter. “I was going to tell her today, Adrian,” I respond anxiously.
“Tell me what?” Her frown deepens. “Tell me what, Kaden?” she repeats, her gaze now solely on me.
I try to speak, but the words won’t come. They catch in my throat, choking me like a bone lodged deep inside. That’s when Adrian seizes the opportunity to speak on my behalf.
“Oh, my dear, Hope. He really has been fooling you, hasn’t he?”
“Can someone just tell me what the fuck is going on?” Hope finally snaps.
“Your new friend here, isn’t who you think he is. He’s been keeping quite a big secret from you this whole time.”
“Hope...,” I murmur, as I hold her gaze. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, I swear. Please forgive me.”
Adrian’s cold laugh slices through the air, dripping with malice. The sight of him revelling in my misery only fuels the hatred burning inside me.
He casts me a look that practically screams victory. “Once she finds out the truth about you, I’m not so sure she’ll ever forgive you.”
“Adrian stop this!” Hope barks. “Whatever sick twisted game you’re playing isn’t going to work.”
“Hope, darling, if you’d bothered to look into his past at all, or just simply asked him how he and Lucia came to be—you’d know this man is no different from me.”
Hope looks more confused than ever, and Adrian doesn’t hesitate to spell everything out for her—in a way she understands all too well.
“You see your new friend here, the one I’m fairly certain has already gained your trust, is nothing but a liar and a cheat. He betrayed his wife the same way I had, by having an affair with Lucia—his wife’s best friend.”
My eyes close, my chest caving in as if something heavy is crushing down on it. My heart and lungs constrict, and oxygen isn’t coming through fast enough. I feel almost light-headed. I’m almost too afraid to open my eyes, scared of seeing the devastation and hurt in Hope’s face.
“Is that true?” she says softly, her voice trembling slightly.
I open my eyes, and they instantly lock with hers. The look she gives me is one I feared all along, one that will linger with me for a very long time.
This isn’t how I wanted to tell her, and not with Adrian standing right there, ready to offer his support. But it’s done. It’s out. There’s no escaping the truth now.
I nod, slowly, and the sound that slips from her lips nearly shatters me.
“It’s true. Everything he said is true,” I finally admit.
She lets out a small sob, stepping back as if my words have physically struck her. Tears well in her eyes, and I want nothing more than to collapse to my knees and beg for her forgiveness.
“Hope, I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you. I was planning to tell you everything today.”
“You should’ve told me the first time you threw Adrian under the bus!” she shouts, fury lacing her words. “All this time, while we’ve been getting to know each other, did it neveroccur to you to tell me how you betrayed your wife too? Did it never even cross your mind to say that Lucia didn’t just destroy my marriage, but helped destroy yours too?”
Her hand flies to her mouth, as she tries to stifle her cries.
“It’s been eating at me since the first day we met. I just didn’t know how to tell you. Hope, you were already so heartbroken. I couldn’t bear to add to your pain.”
“Oh, but you have, Kaden. You have.”
Disappointment, disgust, anger—hurt flickers behind her arctic blue eyes, and I realise, with a sinking feeling, that she may never forgive me after this.
I take a step towards her, and she immediately retreats. Adrian moves in front of her in a flash, putting himself between us, as if I’m some monster she needs protection from.
“I think it’s time for you to go,” he orders, his voice cutting and cold.
I ignore him and try to glance past his shoulder towards Hope, but her gaze is lowered as if the mere sight of me is just too painful.
“Hope, can we please talk,” I say softly, pleadingly. “There’s still so much more I need to say.”
