Page 125 of Ruin Me Gently

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve moved on already. That’s disgusting, Lilith.” His chest heaved with barely restrained rage. “All I wanted was for you to be happy with me. And you don’t even care. Just left me like I meant nothing to you.”

Brick behind me.

Clark in front of me.

Nowhere to go.

“I mademistakes, Lilith,” he muttered, shaking his head, like I was some stubborn child refusing to own up to spilling milk. “We allmake mistakes. I’m not perfect, but youknowthat I love you. YouknowI only ever wanted what’s best for you—to make you a better person.”

I scoffed, a bitter laugh leaving my lips before I could stop it.

“Clark, I’ve been through someshit—real, actual shit. But you?” I shook my head. “You were still one of the worst things to ever happen to me.”

His whole body went taut and his eyes darkened, something dangerous flashing in them.

“You don’t mean that,” he spat, the sharp edge of anger slicing through his words. “Iknowyou love me, and I don’t know why you keep denying it.”

Something inside me snapped.

Maybe it was the fact that he still,after everything,thought he could rewrite the truth. Maybe it was the fact I’d spent so long believing that the sorry excuse of a man in front of me was as good as it would get.

And then, someone else had come along. Someone who had followed me, yes. Lurked in the shadows, yes. Hidden himself away from me, yes. But in the moments we had spent together, he had shown me something Clark never had.

That it wasn’t supposed to feel like this. That someone couldwantme without trying to break me. That someone couldcarewithout wanting to control me. Even if he didn’t want to reveal himself to me, even if he hid it away, he still cared more than anyone ever had before.

I tilted my chin, locking eyes with him. “I don’t love you,” I said, slow and deliberate. “Ipityyou.”

“Excuse me?”

“I pity you, Clark,” I said, my voice steady despite the rapid pulse bursting through my veins. “You’re cruel. You lash out to make yourself feel bigger, to make yourself feelbetter.That makes you weak. And I don’t have space in my life for weak men.”

His face contorted, twisting into something uglier, something feral. I knew that look. I’d spent too much of my life shrinking from it, curling in on myself, making myself small. Not this time.

“You’re callingmeweak?” His voice pitched higher, and his fists flexed at his sides, knuckles straining.

“Yes, Clark,” I said, forcing the words past the knot in my throat. “Because strong men don’t—”

White-hot pain exploded against the side of my head, so forceful my skull cracked against the damp brick wall behind me. My knees buckled before I could even try to regain my footing—

Another blow.

Stars burst behind my vision, a kaleidoscope of colour before darkness surged in, threatening to pull me under.

“You ungrateful bitch!” His voice was unhinged now, spit flying from his lips. “After everything I fucking did for you—”

Another strike. My stomach lurched. The ground was tilting. Or maybe that was me.

“You think you’re better than me, huh? Think you can talk to me like that?” he yelled as his knee rammed into my ribs.

Sharp, jagged pain tore through me, the air knocked from my lungs in a strangled cry.

“You’re nothing but a nasty, self-righteous slut,” he snarled, spit flecking his lips as his fingers clamped around my jaw, forcing me to look at him.

The metallic tang of blood coated my tongue, thick and warm as I forced myself to stay present, keep my head above the current.

I wasn’t a scared little girl anymore.

I wasn’t going to end up like Evelyn, fading away under the weight of a man’s rage.

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