The car finally stops in the driveway of our house, and I storm inside, Luke following suit. With his long strides, he easily catches me again.
I haven't even gotten the chance to head to our room when he whirls me around in the living room. Hurt and confusion cross his eyes as he stares at the angry tears in my eyes.
"Let it out," he whispers, and I explode right away.
"Did you threaten Jude?" I ask defiantly. "Did you blackmail him and command him to stay away from me before I broke up with him?"
Luke looks like I just shot a bullet through his head, his eyes wide.
I repeat my question firmly, "Did you?"
The shock on Luke's expression is replaced with fury. "You two talked?"
"Just answer the damn question, Luke," I cry.
His lips form into a thin line, his jaw tight, his fist clenched at his side. My heart thumps wildly while I'm waiting for him to answer.
I feel like I'm waiting for a death sentence, the fear eating me.
After a while, Luke says, "I did."
And I let out a soft cry. The world around me feels like it’s crumbling into pieces. Everything I believed about Luke and everything we've built is shattered.
I don't think I know the person standing right in front of me.
I shake my head in disbelief, more tears blurring my vision. "You targeted me from the beginning."
How could it be? It doesn't make any sense.
I was right at the beginning that this man was crazy. He'd already set his eyes on me even before we met each other.
Luke is indeed crazy.
"Cassie," he hisses, his eyes piercing. "I have a very good reason for that."
I step back, getting even more frightened of him. Jude is right—Luke is dangerous. It seems impossible that this is the same man who washed away my tears and made me feel safe in his embrace.
My heart bleeds with every step that I'm taking to distance myself from him, but my body begs for it.
"A very good reason for what, Luke?" I ask. "Is that also your reason for trapping me by creating all of those false rumors about me? By making me the nation's whore? By destroying my life? How could you do that to me, Luke?" My sobs cut my words. "How could you?"
I still remember how hard it was for me to go through that hell. Everybody accused me, saying nasty things about me.
I was the world's number one targeted joke. I would have been attacked by random people every time I left my house if Mike and the other bodyguards hadn't tightened the security around me.
I received death threats from Jude's fans. I got sued by Brian Russel's wife. I got booed when I performed on stage.
I was stomped on in the worst possible way.
All of those things feel fresh in my mind now, as if they just happened yesterday.
And the very reason why they happened is the person that is now standing before me. My own husband.
Luke looks just as broken as I am after hearing my accusation, hurt and anger in his hazel eyes.
"Did you actually believe that?" His voice is shaking.
What's left at the bottom of my heart demands me to say no, to run into his arms and cry my heart out, to tell him that I don't want to believe it.
