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“Maybe one day,” I murmur, non-committal. I don’t miss the way his expression tightens at that. “Tell me what your father said,” I say, changing the topic. I’m too impatient to wait any longer.
“I told you, Isa. It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me,” I retort.
Graham sighs, running a hand through his hair. “As expected, he told me to end things. And that if I didn’t, he would pull all support for me to become CEO.”
My fists clench. He knew that was a possibility, and I knew it, too. But now that we’re facing it, I can’t help but be a little horrified. He can’t lose the company. Not after how hard he’s worked to get to where he is.
“And what did you say?” I question, my voice coming out low. I can feel myself slowly starting to shut down as the inevitability of our situation washes over me.
Graham’s eyes are more intense than I’ve ever seen. “I told him there was no way I would be able to end things with you, ever. Because I’m in love with you, Isabella.”
Absolute shock follows that statement. I stare at him for several seconds, sure I heard wrong.
“What?”
Graham gets to his feet, stalking toward me. He places a hand on my chin to lift my head up, forcing eye contact.
“I’m in love with you, Isabella,” he repeats. “And I’m not letting you go.”
I swallow softly, my heart starting to pound in my chest. I’m completely speechless. Graham smiles uncomfortably after a few moments.
“You have to say something, baby.”
My throat is dry. I swallow once again before slowly pulling out of his grip. A shadow falls across Graham’s eyes and I know he can tell what I’m about to say.
“You’re not in love with me. You’re just saying that because you’re scared. You think you’re about to lose your position in the company, and you’re trying not to lose me, too.”
His jaw grinds. “Don’t tell me what I feel, Isabella,” he growls. “You have no idea what’s going through my head.”
“But I do, though. I know you, Graham. When things get hard, you run away. And now you’re going to use me as an excuse.”
His eyes flicker with rage. “You’re the one that’s acting like a fucking coward right now, Sunshine. What? I say three words and that’s enough to make you tuck your tail in and run.”
“You said you love me!” I yell, my heart racing so fast it’s almost painful.
“And I fucking meant it!” he shouts back. “Why is that so hard for you to believe?”
I shake my head, refusing to let those words have an effect on me. If I let them, they’ll consume me.
“You don’t mean it. This isn’t happening,” I say, turning away from him.
There’s a pressure at the back of my eyes that I pretend not to feel it as I count my breaths. Neither of us says anything for a long moment. We’ve never fought like this before. And I hate it, but I also know it’s necessary.
“What do you want from me, Isabella?” Graham asks, a defeated note in his voice. “I’m choosing you. Over everything, I’m choosing you.”
I whirl around to face him. “That’s exactly what I don’t fucking want. I don’t want you to choose me. I want you to choose yourself. You’ve wanted this for so long and if you choose me over the company, you’ll eventually come to resent me.”
“You can’t make that decision for me, Isabella.”
“I’m not making it for you, I’m making it for us,” I tell him, feeling my heart breaking in my chest. “This can’t continue.”
A torrent of emotions punches through me, but pain at the sight of the expression on his face is the most potent one. I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe I’m doing this. Everything in me screams not to go down this route.
But I have to do the right thing for him. More than anything else, I need him to be okay.
“I think we should break up,” I whisper, feeling my hands tremble.
