Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78464 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“What did you expect me to do? He’s my father. You just said you picked your own father over me—”
“It would have been one thing if you just didn’t believe me. But the fact that you left…” He shook his head. “The fact that you abandoned us when I’ve never once abandoned you…tells me everything I need to know.”
The tears continued to drip down my cheeks. “You should have told me sooner—”
“What difference would it have made?” Now he started to yell again. “It would have made no difference—at all. Because you’re blinded by your stupidity. If your father told you to jump off a bridge, you would. You’re a fucking puppet with an invisible string. I looked your father in the eye and told him I loved you—and he still ripped us apart. He shot my father in the arm. You’ll never understand how it feels to know that your parents despise you. I begged him to come clean with you and even told him I would help repair your broken relationship, and he still said no. And the fact that he still hasn’t told you, even now…” He shook his head. “Shows me how little he respects you. How little he cares for you. You’ve known from the beginning that you were my whole world, and you threw it away.”
I sobbed. It was all I could do.
“I’m done,” he said simply. “We’re buried in too much shit now.”
“We love each other—”
“Loved.”
“Loved?” I forced myself to stop crying. “I see your wedding ring…”
The hostility was instantaneous.
“I’m so sorry for everything. I mean that. I feel so terrible about everything you went through. But we’re here, the facts are on the table, and it would be a waste not to finally have the relationship that was taken from us.”
The storm clouds remained behind his eyes. “No.”
“Axel—”
“I won’t change my mind.”
“You just said you begged my father to tell me the truth. That couldn’t have been that long ago.”
He said nothing.
“I’m sorry that I left. But I’ve been fucking miserable—”
“You’ve said this already,” he said simply. “I’m not in the mood to hear it three or four times.”
His perpetual coldness had finally iced my heart. This was not the man I’d fallen for. This was someone entirely new. His demeanor made me withdraw, made me pull back several feet even though my feet didn’t take a step. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, but you have to be the most heartless man on the planet not to understand how hard that would be. Even after hearing what my father said, it’s still hard to believe he would do such a terrible thing, though I know it’s true. My entire world has been shattered. I was fed lies by the person I trusted most, and the cost was the love of my life. I’m the victim in this as much as you are. Have some empathy and try to remember that.”
Based on the way his eyes burned, he felt no empathy at all.
There was nothing I could say to bring Axel back. He was stubborn and angry, and my tears didn’t soften that resolve at all. A continued conversation would just pull out the worst parts of him, the parts I didn’t want to see. “I’ll sign the papers and drop them in the mail.”
“Good.”
It felt like he’d shoved me into a pit of snakes. He didn’t care how much he hurt me. He wanted to hurt me, wanted to cause me as much pain as he suffered. I would never see that boyish grin again. Never feel him pull me close and brush a kiss against my hairline. His laughter, the way he teased me, the brightness he brought into the world…they were all gone.
I only had one more thing to say before I left. “I’m sorry.”
Chapter 12
Axel
I headed downstairs and found Aldo in his bedroom. There were two suitcases, meticulously organized to hold all of his things. The rest of his clothing was on hangers across the bed. His entire life had been reduced to his meager belongings. “Aldo.”
He stilled when he heard my voice and turned around in a rush, his eyes guarded like he expected me to scream at him. “I’m almost done, sir. I’ll be out of your hair in a second—”
“Why did you lie to her?”
He blinked several times, trying to come up with the right thing to explain his heinous actions. “I had no other way to stop her. I knew you would be angrier if I tried to grab her or restrain her.”
“So you said I was sleeping around?”
“Actually, she assumed you had a woman in your bedroom, and I confirmed that belief so she would leave. I like Scarlett very much, but I knew it wouldn’t be in her best interest to see you tonight when you’ve been so…upset.”