Page 174 of Fatality

I don’t know how I manage to make it back to my loft without collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut, but somehow, I do. Barely.

I press my palm against the biometric pad beside the door, and it slides open with a soft hiss.

Thank God. Home, finally.

“Riven…” Liam says. “Don’t leave me. I can’t lose you. You’re everything.”

My heart breaks. God, I’m a monstrous person.

“I’m sorry, Liam.”

I cup his jaw in my hands, my thumbs brushing the tears from his cheeks as I try to steady him.

“I… I’ve had a few days that completely drained me, mentally and physically. I would have reached out if I could. I’m so sorry…”

I sigh when I see his hands trembling.

“Please, Liam, listen to me. I’m deeply, truly sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. But I’m kind of lost right now. Things are changing. Everything feels like it’s collapsing—”

“But you disappeared for days!” He shouts, cutting me. “You never answered! I was worried! Are you seeing someone else? Stop lying! I know you are!”

I flinch, I can feel my anger rising. My hands are shaking as I try as much as I can to calm down.

He is worried, this is normal.

“This shirt is not even yours!” He tugs violently at the shirt. “It smells like another man, you have to tell me! You are mine, Riven! I will never let you go! Do you understand me?”

“Liam, it’s complicated! It’s not like I wanted all my life to collapse!” I shout back “You didn’t believe me for the break in! I tried to tell you! And I belong to no one! I’m my own person!”

His eyes darken, I step back, I never seen Liam’s eyes look at me like that, and it’s scaring me.

Suddenly, his mouth is on mine. It’s sloppy, clumsy and it tastes like alcohol.

I freeze and before I can even process it, I push him away. I need to explain.

I need to tell him the truth.

I can't let this go on. I can't let the people I care about end up like this because of me.

His hands are suddenly on me, and he slams my back against the door hard enough to drive the air from my lungs.

I yelp in surprise.

“I can’t lose you,” he rasps.

Crowding into my space, his grip shifting from my shoulders to my waist, groping roughly my breasts through whatever Evren’s shirt he gave me during my sort of captivity, then my face.

“If I lose you, I’ll go mad, Riven.” His voice slowly turns dangerous “Stop pushing me away.”

His slams his hips against mine, rubbing himself through our clothes against me roughly.

I freeze completely.

My brain refuses to work. I’m lost, completely lost.

But he isn’t listening. He doesn’t even let me finish.

He doesn’t even let me explain and all I can do is stand there, frozen, while everything I thought I understood about my life seems to collapse around me.