Page 197 of Only Be Mine

Just a statement of fact.

The room tilted slightly.

“But… why?” My voice cracked despite myself. “He was my fiancé.”

“He was in your way.”

The simplicity of it stole the air from my lungs.

Trevor leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “You were drowning in him,” he said. “In the idea of him. You would’ve married him. You would’ve tied yourself to a man who couldn’t even see what he had.”

I shook my head slowly.

“You don’t get to decide that.”

“I already did,” he replied.

The calm certainty in his tone made my skin go cold.

“You loved him,” Trevor said, softer now. “But he didn’t deserve you.”

“That wasn’t your decision.”

“It became mine the second I realized he was going to waste you.”

My heart was slamming so hard I could hear it.

“You don’t even sound sorry,” I whispered.

Trevor tilted his head slightly. “For loving you?” he asked.

The words made my stomach turn.

“For killing him.”

His eyes flicked back to the ring. “I gave you ten years,” he said quietly. “Ten years of safety. Of comfort. Of not having to wonder where he was.”

“You took him from me.”

“I gave you something better.”

The arrogance of it was staggering.

“You gave me a lie,” I said.

He leaned back slowly, studying me. “No,” he said. “I gave you a future.”

I didn't know what to say. The silence stretched; the ticking clock on the wall sounded louder than it ever had.

“I never meant for you to find that,” he said after a moment, nodding slightly toward the ring.

That was the closest he came to regret.

Not the murder.

The discovery.

“You kept it,” I said.