I scroll through article after article, each confirming the fear that my relationship with Ruby has inadvertently orchestrated her downfall. I reconciled with my past a long time ago, but I never anticipated that it would come back to haunt me a second time, hurting the only woman I’ve ever loved.
We knew there was no guarantee that Bree wouldn’t go back on her word, but I had hoped there was a bit of humanity left in her, that she would consider how this could affect her son and listen to her better angels. Instead, she took the jagged remains of our past and stabbed me in the back with them.
Anger fades to numbness the longer I sit with the betrayal. For a little while, I fooled myself into believing this could work, that I could have the life I once thought was beyond my reach.
Love.
Family.
Ruby.
For a fleeting moment, I had it all. It was a beautiful illusion, but I have to let her go. I can’t be the reason she loses everything she worked so hard for.
Ruby finds me a short while later, staring at the floor with my elbows draped over my knees, steady in my resolve to let her go.
The sofa shifts as she sinks into the cushions, curling her legs under her body, her warm vanilla scent surrounding me. Her delicate hand slides up my spine. “Hey. Thought I might find you here.”
I glance up at her with a blank expression on my face and pure agony gripping my heart. “You found me.”
“I take it you saw the news?”
“Hard to miss,” I say, emotionless.
Her face falls, and an uncomfortable silence settles between us for several long moments.
“This too shall pass,” she murmurs. I can’t tell if she’s trying to convince me or herself. “I spoke to Abby and Adam. Bree never intended to keep her word. Her point of contact received the video before your meeting. Since the funds were still pending in her account, I reported it to my bank as fraud. She won’t get a penny. Legally, there’s not much we can do. We just have to ride it out. I’ll put out a statement. Eventually, it’ll be drowned out by another headline.”
She’s trying to sound hopeful, but I can still see the weariness in her eyes. She’s putting on a brave face like she always does.
I let out a huff of air and shake my head.
She pulls her hand back and shifts away from me. “Are you mad at me?”
I don’t respond. Maybe if I let her believe the worst, it’ll be easier when she leaves.
My fingers itch to reach out and touch her, but I keep a tight hold on my impulses. Just one touch and I’ll fall to my knees for the chance to keep her. She deserves better, someone who won’t drag her down. Someone with a name and a life that fits seamlessly with hers, who doesn’t have enough baggage to tear her entire world to shreds.
I swallow against the spark of jealousy threatening to consume me. Whoever he is, he doesn’t deserve her either. Nobody will ever be good enough, least of all me.
“I’ve just been thinking."
She huffs out breath. “Just say it, Liam. Let me hear the I told you so and I promise never to let you fuck me in public again.”
My resolve almost crumbles at the lighthearted teasing—she’s always had this uncanny ability to brighten even the darkest days—but not this time. There’s no coming back from this.
I inhale a steadying breath, bracing myself for the inevitable pain to come. “This isn’t going to work.”
“What do you mean?”
“We should end this. You can go back to Nashville and record your album. Any press is good press, right? If you release a new single in the midst of the scandal, it’ll shift the narrative.”
She looks at me, brows furrowed in disbelief. “N-no. I don’t want that. You said we’d try.”
I scrub a hand over my beard, distracting myself from the intense need to touch her. “That was before all of this. You have to think about your career.”
She stands and wraps her arms around herself protectively. “I don’t give a fuck what people think of me. I never have. All I’ve ever wanted was the freedom to make my own choices, and now you’re taking that away from me, too!”
The pure defeat in her voice is like a stab to the heart, but I can’t let it get to me. I steel myself and look away, at the wall, the floor, anywhere but at the woman I love more than life itself. It doesn't last long; her presence draws me in again like she always does.
