Page 100 of Twisted Prince
“Because of what I said at Pearl’s. I wanted to go with you that night. I did. You know that, don’t you? I would have left with you. But then Vinny and Harper came in with Harper’s men, and I just… I couldn’t let them kill you. So I said what I had to say to make them stop.”
Closing my eyes, I swallow hard. I know what she said saved my life.
And maybe she’s telling the truth—maybe she only agreed to marry Vinny to protect me.
But did she really want to come back to New York with me?
Or is she just saying that now because she thinks that’s what I want to hear?
Fuck!
“Please, Gleb,” Mel whispers, her hand finding my chest once more. Her palm rests right over my beating heart I’m trying so hard to control. “Please, don’t shut me out.”
My eyes snap open to make sense of her words, and the tears that glisten on her lashes are my undoing.
“I don’t hate you, Mel. I could never hate you,” I assure her.
And as if it’s developed a life of its own, my hand lifts from her collarbone to cup her soft cheek.
“Then say you forgive me,” she insists. “For what I said in Boston.”
Why does it feel like the knife just keeps digging deeper? Twisting inside my gut?
“There’s nothing to forgive. You did what you thought was best,” I assure her. “You saved my life. I know that.”
But does that mean she actually wants me, like her kiss would imply? Or is she just doing this now to mend something between us that’s not her responsibility to fix? What’s the truth, and what’s the lie?
I can’t tell anymore.
Mel’s parting words from each of our past fights come flooding back to me in a rush, filling my mind as if my brain was just waiting for me to ask the question:
“I need space. I need freedom. And I think we both know those are things you can’t give me.”
“I need to find my own way, my own life, and I have to do this without you.”
“If I don’t get out, I’ll never be happy. I’ll never truly be free.”
“You like to pretend you’re so different from all the other assholes who want to possess me. But in reality, you just want to own me like every other man I’ve ever known.”
“I want you to leave me alone, Gleb. Just… go back to New York and leave me in peace.”
And it hits me like a ton of bricks. Those words are no different than what she said to Vinny. “You’d be doing me a favor by kicking him out… He means nothing to me.”
Yes, she said those words to save my life. But that doesn’t make them any less true.
And now she’s trying to mend my heart—my pride—because I’m just too addicted to keep it together. I didn’t want to see the truth for what it is.
“You say there’s nothing to forgive, but then why have you barely looked at me since you agreed to marry me this afternoon?” she presses. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
I shake my head, my throat tightening with the emotions that threaten to consume me. Because, for once, I can’t tell her the truth. I can’t bring myself to say that it’s because today was one of the happiest of my fucked up existence. That it felt like I somehow won the golden ticket.
And it’s entirely at her expense.
“Please, Gleb. Can’t we just have one night where we put all our shit aside? I don’t want our wedding night to be empty and meaningless. I don’t want to be alone.”
Mel steps forward again, and this time, I can’t bring myself to stop it.
I can’t resist.
