“Like what?” she asked. A hard whisper cutting through the quiet.
He paused, and when he spoke, his voice was small. Pitiful. “I’m sure it’s occurred to you that you could sell the place to someone else for a lot more money if you owned the land, too.”
Her mouth filled with acid. “I’d never do that to you.”
“I know that now, but I didn’t then,” he said slowly. His fingers drove into his hair, pulling at the roots. “All I knew was that I came to this town and then this gorgeous, brilliant woman took my dream house out from under me without even lifting a finger. And you were always ten steps ahead of me. With the inspector. With the candlesticks.”
Elliot’s words didn’t come close to the way Lainey saw herself. She was always scrambling. Surviving. She’d lived her life on her back foot, desperate to catch a break.
“Back then, I felt like a sitting duck, and I wanted a little leverage. That was all it was. I saw every way this could go wrong, and I wanted a card to play. Just in case this was a manipulation.”
“ ‘This’? You mean us?” She gestured between them. “You think I’m manipulating you?” Her voice wobbled, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she completely fell apart.
“No, Lainey. Of course not.”
“But youdid.”
“Didn’t you?” he asked, his voice cracking.
Fear, mistrust, deceit. This was the rotted foundation they were constructed on, and now everything beautiful they’d built together looked unsteady. They weren’t Forest’s Bridge or even the cabin they’d renovated that was beginning to feel like a home. They were the waterlogged houses at the edge of the property. A total teardown. Better lit on fire and sent out to shore.
“God. All of that ‘Let me in, Lainey!’ bullshit. And the sickest part is, I almost did. I almost let myself…”Trust you. Believe in you.Loveyou.She’d been so close to surrendering herself to it. She was almost grateful she’d found out now.Before she was in too deep. “You must’ve thought I was such an idiot.”
“An idiot? Going up against you is like playing chess blindfolded. I was the stupid one when it came to you. You could’ve convinced me to do anything. You still could.”
“Why did you ask me to marry you, then?” she asked, stepping into his space and jutting up her chin. “If youweren’tplotting to steal my house, and you wereso sureI was going to screw you over, why would you marry me in the first place?”
“Because I wanted you.” His voice ached, as if theirs could be a sad, simple love story and not a horror show. “Even though you terrified me, and I was waiting for it all to go wrong, I hoped it would go right, because of how much I wanted it to.”
“But not enough to really risk anything, right? You had to hedge your bets with this, this…oh my god.” The realization hit her like a slap. “That’s why you want to get divorced.”
The blood drained from his face. “No—”
Pressure built behind her eyes. “You wanted to divorce me to steal my house, and I deluded myself into thinking it was a romantic gesture. I’m so completely pathetic! Did you even talk to the bank? Was there ever a mortgage loan?”
“Of course there was.” He took her face in his hands, and she couldn’t help but melt into them. It was muscle memory. A painful echo. Her protective shell slipped off her body like a silk sheet. She was defenseless. “I meant what I said. I was always going to give you whatever you wanted.” His voice was deep and velvety, wrapping her up tight. It would feel so good to curl up in that voice. It would be so easy to let go. “I don’t care which one of us owns this house. It’s a fuckinghouse, Lainey. You’re mywife.”
Her body tightened, his possessive intensity flowing over her skin like an electric current. But her anger was just as formidable.
She pulled his hands off her face. “Don’t call me that.”
“My wife? Why? Because it means this is real to me? It is.”
She couldn’t take the way he was looking at her, like she was breaking him apart and putting him together all at once. It wasn’t fair of him to do this to them and then look at her likethat. Like he saw her. Like she mattered. And likeshewas the one doing something awful tohim.
“Elliot, don’t—”
“I love you,” he told her in a rush. “I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you this whole time.”
“You’re not,” she argued, a single tear careening down her face.
“I am. Look at me, Lainey. I love you. You can see it. Everyone can. I don’t know how they couldn’t.”
There was no stopping the crying now. She wiped at her cheek with the heel of her hand. “Well, that’s convenient.”
His laugh was hollow. “Do you think, when all this started, I wanted to feel this way? To think about you constantly? To miss you every time you leave the room? To research VPN setups so I can lie to my job about where I live, because I know the second you leave, I’m going with you? Wherever you’re going, I’m going. I don’t even have a choice. I’m not the kind of person who lies to their boss, Lainey. I don’t research spousal visas for a place someone hasn’t even invited me to. I don’t take dumb, impulsive risks. But I can’t help but find a way to be with you. So it’s actually pretty damn inconvenient, if you ask me. And it’s also the truth.” He looked to the ceiling and took a deep breath. “I don’t expect you to say it back—”
“Good.” Her laugh was bitter and mean. She hugged her ribs, her heart burning beneath them like a bare palm searing on a cast-iron pan. If what she’d been feeling for Elliot was love, it had fully turned on her now. Warm feelings were now hot coals. Pleasure was pain. Her body was betraying her, like it always did.
