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“Carly,” Chance whispers, holding me up as he peers down at my face. “Who was that?”

I shake my head, wiping away tears as quickly as they fall. “I… I need a minute.”

He leads me over to the couch and I sit down next to him as I suck in a breath and try to think of how to tell him this. I’m more secure in our relationship than I was a week ago but what I have to tell him could still change things between us. Not to mention I have no idea how to even say this since I’ve never spoken these words aloud before. They burn in my throat, fighting to break free and struggling to stay locked away at the same time and with tears pouring from my eyes, I resist the urge to claw at my own throat. Chance pulls me into his arms, hugging me tight and I draw in a breath, hoping I can make it through this. I know he’s seen the parts of me that I worked so hard to hide but he really has no idea the horrors I’ve been keeping caged inside.

“Baby,” he whispers, stroking my cheek with the back of his fingers and I look up, meeting his eyes as I let him see all the pain I usually keep buried. He sucks in a breath, his eyes tortured and I wonder if it’s similar to the look in my eyes right now. He holds my hand tight but remains quiet as he waits for my explanation.

“Austin and I used to date.”

He nods. “And?”

“And,” I start, new tears forming in my eyes and my heart pounding in my ears. My palms are sweating and I struggle to draw a breath. “When I was sixteen, Austin and six of his friends drugged and raped me at a party.”

My words hang in the air between us, the silence of the apartment deafening as time seems to stall and I wait for his response. Slowly, the anger in his eyes builds, licking up toward the sky like a raging inferno, until he jumps up from the couch and marches into the kitchen. He swipes the gun off the counter and turns toward the door, pure, unhindered rage lighting up his features and I have no doubt in my mind he’d kill Austin if I let him. Maybe it should bother me but it doesn’t.

“Chance,” I call out as he wraps his hand around the doorknob and he turns to me. Tears fall down my cheeks and I watch his heart break right in front of me. “Please don’t leave me right now.”

He stares at me for a moment before turning back to the door. Just when I think he’s going to go after him, he turns, setting the gun back on the counter as he stalks across the floor and sits down next to me. Without a word, he pulls me into his arms and crushes me to his body. His hand slips into my hair and he massages the back of my head as I cry into his shirt, letting go of years of pain I’ve been hanging on to.

“I’m so fucking sorry, baby,” he whispers, his voice conveying the pain he’s feeling right now and I pull back, shaking my head as my lip wobbles.

“Please don’t ever apologize. You’re the first person in twelve years that’s been able to reach a part of me I thought died that night.”

His brow furrows and I’m surprised by the shimmer in his gaze. Is he crying for me? “God, I knew something bad had happened to you, but I never imagined… Do you know how badly I want to go after him right now? I want to make him hurt for every time I’ve seen this pain in your eyes. I want to make him suffer for even thinking of hurting you.”

“And that’s why I love you,” I whisper, leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. He fists my hair and takes over, kissing me with a desperation that I feel echoed through my own body.

“I love you, Princess. So much it would probably scare you, but I do.”

The three words I’ve been dying to hear from him mean so much more now that he knows the truth about my past and I can’t help but smile through the tears that are still slowly falling down my face.

“I’m not afraid of loving you anymore, Chance.”

He pulls me in and kisses me again, healing another little part of me. When he pulls away, he smiles and presses his forehead against mine.

“Damn. I’ve been waiting to hear you say that again since Wednesday night. I wasn’t gonna say it until you did.”

I laugh a little, shoving his shoulder before resting my head on it. “Ass.”

His arms wrap around me and we’re quiet for a moment before he whispers, “Will you tell me what happened?”

I nod. He knows the worst of it now and for some reason, talking to him about that night feels good – like I’m letting it all go. I start at the beginning, telling him about moving from New Orleans and meeting Austin. When I tell him I gave him my virginity, he lets out a growl but I keep going. As I start telling him about the night of the party, his body grows tense underneath me.

“When I woke up the next morning, all I could remember were these little flashes, but my body hurt so bad. I stumbled into my bathroom and I had bruises everywhere, around my neck, on my arms and legs. Ivy found me there and she and my mother rushed me to the emergency room.”

He squeezes me tighter, his jaw clenched in anger. “Please tell me they paid for what they did to you.”

“Not exactly,” I whisper. “I stayed home from school the next day and when Ivy came home, she was crying. Austin had taped the whole thing and it was everywhere. Everyone at school saw me getting raped but they all thought it was consensual. They thought I was just a slut who wanted to get fucked by seven different guys. When my mother found out, she was enraged. I thought she’d go to the police and finally be the mother I needed her to be but that’s not what happened.”

“What happened?”

Taking a deep breath, I try not to get angry as I tell this part of the story but it’s hard not to. “She gathered up all the reports from the doctors and the videotape before going to the families of the boys and blackmailing them.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he snaps, his body practically vibrating in anger. I climb off him and he stands up, pacing the room as he runs a hand through his hair. As much as I hate how upset he is, it feels amazing to have someone in my corner, someone who will fight for me, and someone I can trust with my life.

“No, I’m not. To this day, I have twelve million dollars sitting in my account that I refuse to touch.”

“Shit,” he hisses, stopping to look at me. “That’s where the money came from?”