Page 79 of Whispers of Deception

He was in front of her now, his body heat engulfing her own. His eyes were crazed and bloodshot. “Shut up!” His hands slammed into the wall above her head.

She was trapped.

“Please.” She whimpered. “Just let me go.”

“Shh.” He motioned with his finger. “Don’t cry.”

“Please.”

He was so close that his breath fanned across her face. There was a sadistic look in his eye as he inclined his head to look at her more closely. He made a sound of approval in the back of his throat before he leaned forward to touch his forehead against hers. He sighed heavily. “You beg so pretty. You’re so beautiful, Lilia.”

She didn’t know what possessed her, but she slapped him and started to claw at him—her nails digging into the side of his face as she pushed him away. “Fuck you.” She fought, though none of her hits landed the way she wanted them to. Jameson grabbed her wrists tightly and shoved her back up against the wall so roughly that her head slammed against it.

“Don’t do that again.” He held her forearms against his chest.

Her head throbbed, and her ears rang.

“Please,” she whispered. “Let me go.”

He tilted his head, his eyes dragging down her neck as he shook his head. “You know I can’t do that.”

A sound came from her that was a mix of a groan and a half-cry. Her face was covered in tears.

“I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

“Do you think I want to do this to you? This isn’t me, Lilia.” Jameson’s hands were cold against her cheeks. His thumb wiped a tear from her face. “You’re perfect.”

She turned her face out of his grasp, facing a far mirror on the wall. The girl she saw was so broken, so afraid, and vulnerable.

She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think.

God, Lilia, think.

His thumb ran along her lips before he backed away slowly. “You remind me so much of her.”

She didn’t speak. She couldn’t.

“So defiant. So ambitious. It’s what I loved most about her.” Jameson ran his finger along the sheets.

“You don’t kill the people you love.”

“She was going to leave me. I had no choice.”

“You had a choice—everyone has a choice.”

“I needed her, and she kept trying to leave me. I couldn’t let her do that. We belonged together.”

“It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the mystery guy. The man she was cheating on Augustus with.”

“She loved me.”

“She trusted you, and you killed her.”

“I couldn’t let her leave me.”

“Who is Phoebe Hastings?” she whispered.

The sound of the name caused his head to snap back.

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