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"Mali," he simply states, that one word making me reel.
I'm physically thrust backwards, the enormity of that one word messing with my mind, my soul—everything that I am.
"You had my child.Mychild," he shouts, causing me to shrink back.
I've never seen him so angry, never heard him raise his voice at me before. Never…
"How the hell could you live with me, sleep with me, eat at the same fucking table as me and hide something that monumental from me? What kind of monster are you?"
Tears are coursing down my cheeks, unbidden.
I can barely keep myself upright as his words hit me worse than a bullet—worse than the beam of the laser. They cut a hole in my heart, savagely tearing at me.
Yet it's all I deserve isn't it?
Deep down, didn't I know he would react like this if he knew? Deep, deep down, didn't I know he would shun me?
It's why I never planned on telling him. I would have taken those secrets to my grave if possible—I was well on my way to doing so.
Until now.
Reality hits me like a thousand thunder bolts, all aimed at me.
He knows.
I back away and he advances, his expression growing more hateful by the second. And it's all directed towardsme—and towards what I've done to him.
What I stole from him.
Because he's right, isn't he?
I did do everything he's accusing me of. And I did much, much worse.
"Mali," he utters the name again, his hand raised. My eyes instinctively close.
In another life, I would have cowered. Or maybe, I would have struck back.
But I deserve nothing less.
If he wants to kill me, I'll let him. I've already prepared for it.
I open my eyes, letting him see I am at his mercy—ready for anything he decides for me.
"You named himMali. Like the stone I gave you," he grits out, but instead of hitting me, his hand shoots out to wrench the necklace from me, snapping the string in the process.
"Raf," a heartrending sob escapes me.
Here it is. The moment of the truth.
The moment of damnation.
"What did you do, Noelle? Tell me the truth. I want to hear the truth from your own poisonous lips," he demands, his voice filled with despair. He sets his cold eyes on me, letting me bear the entire weight of his disappointment and disdain. And I feel it. God, but I feel it in my bones, seeping into my very essence.
I stumble back, my mouth opening and closing as I don't know how to answer him. How does one even answer a question like that?
But he's not deterred. Taking a step towards me, he grabs my chin between his fingers, bringing me closer to his face. His nostrils flare, his features tense and angry. But it's the sight of his eyes that has my heart freeze in my chest. The way he's looking at me as he would a stranger.
Thatcuts me to my core.
