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But instead, he pulls away, dropping his forehead to my shoulder, his breathing as labored as mine. “I can’t do this,” he murmurs.
He lowers me to the floor carefully, but I’m not letting him go. “Why? What’s going on, Gray. You’ve barely spoken to me in days now. Talk to me.”
He runs a hand through his hair and looks away. “It’s not you, baby. It’s never you. You’re everything good in my life. You’re my light when the world falls into darkness. It’s me. I’m born of sin, Aria. I’m the son of a rapist. I’ve got his blood running through my veins. I carry that darkness inside me. I never should’ve been born. A man like me… it’s only a matter of time before I hurt you, and I probably won’t even realize it. Hell… I might like it. Then what?”
My stomach drops, and a chill runs down my spine as I try my best to stay calm. “Who told you this?” I ask, unable to hide the edge in my voice. “When you left the office to go see Ida, you weren’t thinking any of this. You left with hope in your eyes and you returned clouded in despair. Did she do this to you? Did she tell you this?”
Anger unlike anything I’ve ever felt before rushes through me, and I’m tempted to remove her case from my platform entirely. How dare she make the love of my life question who he is. He’s been looking for her for years, and this is what he found?
“I… it’s okay, Ari. She’s hurt, and she was lashing out, but she wasn’t wrong. It’s true. Iamthe result of a horrible crime, and nothing will ever change that. But maybe, just maybe, if we’re able to give Ida the justice she deserves, some of those sins will be lifted.”
I raise my hand to his face and cup his cheek, keeping my eyes on his. “Those are not your sins, Grayson. They are not your burdens to carry. It is not you who should be seeking redemption.”
He nods, but I can tell he doesn’t believe me, and for now, there’s nothing I can do to make him see himself through my eyes. What I can do, is help him with his case. If that’s what he needs right now, then that’s what I’ll do, no matter how badly I believe that Ida neither deserves Grayson nor the help we can offer.
58
Aria
I wake up alone and sit up, instantly panicked. My heart is racing as I slip out of bed and check room after room, knowing that I won’t find Gray. I can feel it. It’s crazy, but I can feel if he isn’t home. I can feel when he’s near, and when he isn’t.
I glance at the clock in the living room, my stomach tightening in worry. It’s seven in the morning, so he must have slipped out during the night. Lately I often find Gray staring up at the ceiling by the time I wake up, but he’s always in bed with me.
This is a first, and it worries me. I walk back into our bedroom, looking for traces of him, any indication of when he might have left or where he might have gone.
I jump when my phone buzzes on my nightstand and reach for it frantically, hoping it’s Gray, but it’s not. Instead, a myriad of notifications from the Nemesis Platform pop up. I frown, confused by what could be causing this big of a commotion.
I scroll through, my heart stopping when I realize Ash uploaded a video and requested that the media team distribute it.
My hands are shaking as I press play, scared of what I’ll find. The video starts, and I instantly recognize George. Gray is sitting with his back to the camera, the two of them in an empty bar. George is clearly visible, but Grayson is mostly blurred. Not that it matters. I’d recognize him anywhere.
“There’s this girl,” Gray says, his voice slurred. “I think I love her, you know?”
I frown, a chill running down my spine. What’s going on here? Why is he with George… and who is he talking about?
George takes another big swig of what appears to be whiskey and nods, indicating for Gray to go on. It looks like the two of them have been drinking together for hours.
“I thought she loved me too, but she doesn’t. I’d have married her, man. Loved her with all my heart. Wanted to have fucking babies with her. But she? She was fucking around on me all along. She’d never let me spread those pretty legs of hers, but it turned out she spread them for everyone else.”
George laughs. “Women are vicious creatures, boy. They play games and think they’ll get away with it. It’s up to you to take what you want.”
Grayson tenses. It’s subtle, and I doubt anyone but me would even notice it. I sink down to my knees on the floor, clutching my phone tightly. Part of me instantly feels betrayed, but a more rational part of me can see what’s going on. He’s getting a confession out of George. How did he even track him down? How did he get him drunk? Is a confession even legally admissible if he is? I’m not sure it is, but I can see how this would sway the jury nonetheless, if Gray can get them to see it. If our media team can get this to go viral, then there’s no way George is getting away with what he did.
“I should have. If she was going to spread her legs for all my buddies, she should’ve let me fuck her. I’d have done her much better than any other man could.”
“Take her,” George says, slumping over. “She was yours first, wasn’t she?”
Gray nods. “We were dating. She made me believe she wanted me, that she’d marry me.”
George laughs and nods. “I knew a woman like that once,” he says, gulping down more whiskey. Gray refills his glass the second he empties it, but George doesn’t seem to realize what’s happening.
“Matter of fact, she recently popped back into my life. I think she missed me because she clearly wants my attention. Maybe she regrets leaving me after all, especially now I’m rich.”
Gray leans back and raises his arm. I can’t see his face, but it looks like he’s taking a sip of his drink. “What happened? She did to you what my girl did to me?”
George nods and laughs. “Yeah, but I aint no pussy. I wasn’t going to let her away with it.”
“I don’t want to let my girl get away with this bullshit, either. If nothing else, I just want a taste of her pussy, you know? If everyone else gets to have it, why don’t I?”
