“No, I think you wanted to embarrass me in front of them.” He folded an arm over his chest.
I didn’t recognise the man in front of me.
The one who glanced out through the window and barely met my gaze.
The one whose eyes hid all the secrets I wanted the key too.
“Why would I do that?”
He shrugged. “As payback for that morning.”
“I’m not some petty girl who’ll take revenge because of something you said.”
“Congrats, want me to plan a fucking celebration?”
“What’swrongwith you? You were fine yesterday, we got married, you smiled, we smiled at each other. Now you’re being a…”
A mocking smirk. “A dick. Say it, sweet Adelaide.”
“Stop it,” I hissed.
“Stop what?”
“Being like this. You’re acting different.”
“Because of you and your little act.”
It was like a slap to my face. He couldn’t mean it. Therewas nothing in it for me to pretend. If I wanted to, I would’ve done it the moment I started walking down that aisle.
We were husband and wife, married, and together.
Blaming me entirely for the pain I never sought—the pain that began with the heartbreak he caused—was utterlyselfish.
“It wasn’t an act.” The tear fell down my cheek before it allowed me to wipe it away. “Do you know what that felt like for me? I was in pain, Christian. In severe, blood-curling pain. I held it in, so I didn’t humiliate the both of us.”
“I doubt it even hurt as bad as you made it seem.”
My insides felt like they were biting at each other when it happened. I tried to stay upright, I tried to talk to Harry and flirt with him. My body was at war with itself, stress and anxiety fought each other, and it exploded in an enigmatic fire with me right in the middle.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?PCOAor whatever the fuck it’s called—the doctor’s said it’s never anything serious. You were acting to get out of your fucking panic attacks.” He dismissed my pain with a menacing wave. “Even if it hurts, it’s on you for not taking care of yourself.”
“There was a cyst in my ovaries that ruptured, and you think I was faking the pain.”
“Can’t be too bad if you’re here right now.”
Another tear fell down my cheek. I didn’t move to wipe it. What was the point?
These tears were responsible for watering the overgrown weeds around the sanctuary of my heart. I’d been a fool to believe Christian in the ways I had.
Whatever sun he’d been under for the past seven yearsmelted his kindness and turned him into this. There might be another mask under this layer, however I no longer cared enough to try and peel it off.
I remembered the reasons why I wanted to keep my distance—why I wanted to stay away from him as much as possible.
It was because of this.
If a man could leave you begging on his floor, he could do anything to ruin you.
