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“I saw how he treated you,” he says, the words coming out with such disgust like he wants to vomit. “How he made you feel. How he hurt you. And I couldn’t stand it.”
My brows furrow. “So you gave him a whore?” I scoff.
He takes a few steps toward me, and I back away. “I gave him a piece of his own medicine … the pain he inflicted on you right back at him.”
“But he never knew I saw him!” I yell back.
Eli stops in his tracks right in front of me. “No.”
“But that wasn’t the point,” I mutter. “You … you wanted me to kill him?”
He suddenly looks directly into my eyes. “No.”
“Tell me that wasn’t the plan,” I hiss.
“It wasn’t. It was supposed to make you see him for the disgusting piece of shit he really was. So that you’d … hurt him. But I didn’t think you’d go that far.”
My nostrils flare. “But it was a trap.”
His hands turn to fists again. “I couldn’t … have you.”
Something twists at my insides. “You asshole!” I yell, slamming both my hands into his chest. “You made me sin just so you could bring me here!”
I punch and punch, all while screaming my lungs out like a madwoman, but nothing seems to faze him. He just stands there, head between his shoulders, like a lost dog with his tail between his legs. All because I caught him in the biggest lie.
“Why won’t you fight back?” I growl as the tears begin to roll down my face.
“Because this is my punishment,” he says.
I pause, midway into swinging on him again, and it feels as though my lungs suddenly can’t inhale oxygen anymore.
“For hurting you.”
Tears stream down my face. Out of all the vile emotions I expected to feel right now, regret was not one of them. I didn’t think I could feel anything for him … but dammit, I was wrong. And now the regret for ever letting myself fall for a man like this is finally setting in.
“Do what you want to do with me,” he says, holding out his hands like he’s inviting me in. “Hurt me. Choke me. Kill me.”
I step back, unraveling from his touch. “No.” I shake my head even when he approaches. “No, I will not play along with your game.”
“But this is what I deserve,” he says. “After everything I did, don’t you want me to pay?”
I nod slowly even though it feels wrong. “I do, but not like this.”
“Then how?” he asks, his voice cracking as much as my resolve did when I let him fuck me. “I am yours.”
No. He’s not mine. He never was.
He only belonged to this house. His own sins.
They’ll be his undoing.
“I lov—”
I raise a finger. “Don’t. Don’t say that word. It isn’t true.”
“It is. All I did was for you. To save you from him and from yourself,” he says. “I did it because I wanted you to be whole again. I wanted you to stand for yourself. And look at you.” The smile on his face is like a smack in the face. “You’ve become so strong.”
“Stop,” I hiss. “I don’t want to hear it.”
He swallows. “Amelia …”
“No.” I walk toward the stairs, but he grabs my arm.
“Please …”
It’s the second time he’s said that word, and it still hits me in the gut and forces me to look at him. But that pain in his eyes is too much to bear. I don’t want it to wound my already broken heart even further.
“I need you,” he says.
“Should’ve thought of that before and told me the truth right from the very start …” I growl, and I tear my arm out of his grip and march upstairs to my bedroom.
Even though it’s still in this wretched house, at least that one room is my sanctuary, my temporary haven away from the crazy. Away from him.
And if escaping this monster of a lie means locking myself in my room forever, then I’ll do just that.
But halfway across the stairs, my head suddenly begins to spin, and my whole body feels heavier than the wood beneath my feet. My sight as well as my muscles falter, causing me to collapse.
Right into Eli’s arms.
After which, everything fades into black.
Chapter 21
Eli
I only just managed to catch her in time before she fell. I didn’t want her to land head-first against the stairs and get hurt. I know my actions have hurt her all the same, but I could never live with myself if she was hurt beyond repair.
Despite everything I did to her, I care about her. I always did, even when I told myself I didn’t. Even when I twisted the truth to make it seem more palatable. I didn’t just deceive her, but I deceived myself for a long time.
