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Until now, I’ve stayed quiet. Swallowed all she threw at me. Controlled myself.

But the disgust in her voice pushes me to respond.

“Who I really am?” I ask, standing up. “I’m sorry that before you, I had a life I chose to live however I wanted.”

I understand she’s hurting, I don’t even want to know how I’d react in her place, and I don’t want to think about it.

But that doesn’t give her the right to judge me for consensual choices I made long before she was part of my life.

She just smiles, the same contempt twisting her features.

“You never heard me condemn your choices or criticize the way you lived your life,” I add, anger slipping into my voice. “I understand…”

“The fact that you even have the nerve to stand in front of me after what you did,” she cuts me off immediately, “and then act like you never judged me… What exactly was there to be judged about me, huh? What?”

She shoves both hands against my chest, but I don’t move. I’m firmly planted in front of her, an immovable wall refusing to give ground.

“Oh, right. Shame on me for having a relationship before you. Shame on me for having sex before you. Shame on me for letting another man touch me before…”

I grab her throat with one hand—careful not to hurt her—and take a step closer, cutting her off instantly.

“You’d better never mention another man touching you again,” I say darkly. “Or sex with anyone else besides me.”

My tone is so serious that her eyes widen slightly.

“I’ll let you say whatever the fuck you want about me. Hate me, insult me, do whatever you need. But you do not talk about another man.”

“I’m not allowed to talk about another man, but you’re allowed to fuck other women?” she yells, trying to pry my hand away from her throat.

“I don’t even look at other women, Selene,” I tell her quietly.

Maybe she won’t believe me now. But it’s the truth.

Another bitter laugh leaves her lips as she grips my wrist harder.

“You don’t look at other women? You don’t look at other women, Zayn?” She pushes hard on my chest again. “Let me go.”

Frustrated, I throw my head back and release her. She immediately moves to the other side of the bed, putting as much distance between us as the room allows.

“When you’re fucking three women at the same time, maybe you can’t look at all of them at once,” she spits, “but you definitely have to look at them to fuck them.”

I knew she’d be devastated by what she saw.

I knew there was no way she’d ever take it well.

But it’s obvious now that it affected her even more than I imagined.

“Please leave,” she says again.

But if she thinks I came all this way just to give up, she’s fucking wrong.

“What do I have to do for you to forgive me, Selene?” I ask directly.

And that finally silences her.

For a moment, she simply stares at me. I can’t tell what I’m seeing on her face.

Disbelief? Heartbreak? Anger?