AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"About that night?” I hated how small my voice sounded. I hated how small I felt. I hated that despite everything, I still wasn’t over him. I asked the question I had been afraid to ask. “Why couldn’t you just tell me?”
He swallowed hard, but he didn’t shy away from my direct stare. “Zero sum game. I was desperate to protect my mother. I was fucking in love with you and I was terrified of what that meant. Of what he could do to you. I already knew what he was capable of. And if I’m being honest, I was afraid of how much I craved you. It was safer for me if you weren’t with me. So like a fool, I tore out my heart to protect it. But I was scared.”
The truth. There it was. The protecting his mother thing was true too, but this, this was the truth, I scared him. So he’d run.
"I knew this wasn't real from the start, Atticus. You didn’t have to break me."
His gaze fell. "I have wished a thousand times I could take that back. I thought I could be strong. I thought I could survive, but all I felt for months was the hole where any semblance of joy went. I missed you so much. You made me a whole person. I craved you. I needed you. But mostly I missed you. I wanted someone to make me watch horrible reality TV, and leave half empty gummy bear bags around the house. I wanted someone to talk to. I wanted someone to laugh with. I wanted you. What I told you before is true. From the moment I saw you on that balcony, I have been completely transfixed by you. You being James Becker's daughter, was only a bonus, because the woman I was mildly obsessed with had a father who wouldn't give up a piece of his company without marriage. Two birds, one stone. But I was already completely enamored, and my feelings only intensified as I got to know you."
I shook my head. "You don't have to say that."
"Maybe, but do you know what it is now? Yes, I needed to be married. Yes, our union was arranged. But you are mistaken if you think in any way, shape, or form that I will not hold onto you with every fiber of my being. I'm not going anywhere."
"Back to the story. So your father threatened to expose your mother if you didn’t break our engagement. So why did you decide to defy him?"
"I had every intention of marrying you all along. That was always the plan. I figured if I could send you to London with Lance, that he would watch out for you and take care of you while I tried to deal with my father’s threats."
"But you hate Lance," I reminded him.
"I'm not a fan of Lance because he was in love with the woman I wanted to marry. But knowing you were being cared for was more important to me."
I blinked at him. "We’ll come back to that. What are we doing about your father?"
"Micah and I came up with a plan. If I looked like I was complying and my father had won, then we’d pull a stunt like this and get married anyway."
"But you still didn't tell me."
"I couldn't. I know you believe you would have gone along with it, but you wouldn't have left. You would have been too worried about Morgan and what your father was going to do next."
"So how exactly did you work out a separate deal with him?"
He winced. "Yeah, that part I fibbed about."
I stared at him, completely flabbergasted. "You lied to my father?"
"I couldn't have him trying to bargain with Morgan next. I have grown to like your sister, and she is just a kid. Not to mention, all you wanted to do from the beginning was protect her. And I knew your father would one hundred percent sell off parts of your team, and I couldn't let that happen. So yeah, I told him there was just a delay but we were still getting married."
I just stared at him and shook my head. "You're willing to lie, cheat, and steal."
He met my gaze directly. "Yes. Immediately and without hesitation if it means that you'll stay by my side."
"You cannot say that to me." My mind whirred as I tried to compute everything he was saying to me.
"It's the truth, Gwen."
"I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do with that."
"Nothing. Leaving you in that room, knowing I hurt you”—he scrubbed his hands over his face—“I couldn’t deal with it knowing I’d already fallen for you. So when Dad disappeared, it gave me the excuse I’d been waiting for to come for you.”
"And you think the accidents and such, those are him?"
"They were not accidents, Gwen. And there's no one else it could be. You're well-liked. You don't have any enemies."
The gaze he leveled on me was so open and vulnerable, it broke my heart.
"Gwen, all I want is for my wife to give me a chance to fix what I broke. That’s all I’m asking.”
“And if you can’t fix it?”
