Page 112 of Between Love & Ruin

“You.”

My heart twists so painfully.

“I expect you. I want you.”

I look away, not able to handle the intensity of his gaze.

He takes another step closer, and I take one back.

“I hid something from you because I was scared. Scared of hurting you. I was waiting for the right time.”

“And you think that makes it okay?”

“No.” Guilt covers his face.

“I told you not to hide things from me,” I remind him.

“I know,” he agrees like a good boy.

“I trusted you,” I add.

“I know.”

“And you still did it. You still made a decision about my life without telling me.”

I heave in a big, difficult sigh.

“You thought you knew what was best for me. You thought you could decide what I should know, what I should do, and what was better for me.”

I swallow hard, trying to keep myself together. Trying to stop myself from falling.

“Do you know how that made me feel? Finding out the truth like that. That you lied to me.”

Dominic doesn’t answer, but his eyes tell me he can understand.

“It made me feel like I didn’t have a say. Like my opinion didn’t matter.”

I shake my head.

“I spent half my life letting people make decisions for me. My relatives because of my dead parents. Mark because he thought he could. Everyone always had an opinion about what I should do with my life.”

I look at him. “And then you did it too.”

His expression changes. A look of regret and guilt.

“Out of everyone, Dominic—” I feel tears burning behind my eyes. “Out of everyone, I never thought it would be you.”

He takes a breath.

“Sienna, I never wanted you to feel like—”

“But I did.” That silences him. “I did.”

A tear slips down my cheek, and I quickly wipe it away.

“And I can’t go back to being that woman. The woman who feels like she has no say in her own life.”

I shake my head.