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Probably all of it at once.

“Forgive you?” she repeats quietly. “How can you even ask me that?”

Her eyes wander around the room as though she can’t bear to look at me anymore.

Both hands drag through my hair, desperation tightening every muscle in my body as I try to stay centered, to keep my thoughts clear enough to make her understand.

“How can you come here asking for forgiveness after you betrayed me?” she asks more firmly.

My head snaps to her.

“What?” I ask, confused, at the exact moment she says, “You cheated on me, Zayn. And relationships end when cheating happens.”

This time, I lose control.

And I laugh—a laugh full of frustration, anger, pain, and a longing so fucking intense it borders on desperation.

When I look at her again, she’s staring at me as if I’ve finally lost my mind.

And maybe I have.

“Repeat what you just said,” I tell her, fighting to keep a smile from forming, refusing to let the storm inside me show on my face.

“I’m about two seconds away from throwing something at you,” she says venomously. “So leave before you piss me off even more. I don’t know why you came here, but you need to understand that I don’t—I don’t forgive you for what you did, and there is no more…”

Three quick steps carry me back to her.

I grab her wrists and pull her back into me, holding her firmly as I meet her eyes in the mirror across the room.

“You’re going to listen to me now,” I warn her. “Because so far, you’ve been the one talking. Now it’s my turn.”

She doesn’t try to interrupt me anymore.

She doesn’t fight my hold, either.

She simply watches me carefully, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

Waiting.

What I’m about to say won’t be easy for her to hear. If she ever said something like this to me, I’d lose my fucking mind.

But she needs to know the truth.

“In the past, I slept with whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted…”

She jerks violently in my arms, but there’s no chance of escaping me, and I keep going.

“I lived freely. No obligation.” I pause, making sure she’s actually listening, actually taking in every word. “And whatever I did before you should’ve stayed there. In the fucking past.”

“I don’t care what you did before me, Zayn. You’re twisting this into something different…”

“Then why are you accusing me over something that happened before we started our relationship?” I snap, my voice rising.

“I’m accusing you of cheating on me.” She twists in my arms, fury flashing across her beautiful face.

“That video is over six months old,” I shout back.

Her entire body goes still.