Page 93 of The Truth of Our Secrets

I robbed her of her choices.

“Oh my God.” She scoots back on her knees with a horrified expression. “You. You deleted Emmet’s message. He said he couldn’t believe I was that gullible. I never thought.” She makes a strangled sound. “I never thought you’d be capable of that kind of deceit. You lied to me.

“You told me he wasn’t invested in me, that he didn’t appreciate me and we were better off without him,” she said, her voice rising in anger.

“You fucking bastard.” She hurls clothes from the pile at me and screams in anguish.

“I’m sorry.” The words are meaningless, but they’re true.

“How could you do this?” The words tear out of her throat, rough and loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

I want to give her a good answer. Something that will fix this, but I have nothing. All my reasons were selfish. If we kept sharp objects in this room, I’d worry about my safety. I’d gladly bleed out for my sins.

“I have to get back to the gallery.” She stands and towers over me. “I only came home,” she pauses, “I don’t even remember why.” Her top lip curls up, but her eyes show me her pain. The pain I put there.

“Are you coming back?” I ask as she walks out.

But she doesn’t answer and all my fears have come true.

Everyone has left me and it’s my fault.

Chapter thirty-two

Madyson

Ireenter the gallery from the back entrance.

Everything’s gone to fucking hell.

I’m numb.

Jayce owns my whole heart and I love him and I’ll forgive him, but it’s hard right now. I’ve been sleeping in the spare bedroom for days. He’s taken full responsibility for hurting us and believing Peter’s manipulation.

But…I’m more upset about Emmet. Emmet needed me and thought I’d ghosted him.

On top of all my personal drama, Von’s being deported. He’s devastated and Alec’s gone off the rails. My best friend is in self-destruct mode. I tried to distract Von with his upcoming show like an asshole.

He’s not a guy who will take comfort, and he didn’t enjoy my hugs. This day couldn’t get much worse.

The men I love are a mess.

Jayce betrayed me in the name of protecting me, Emmet’s wrecked, and Alec is heartbroken.

It’s hard to breathe with the possibility of never seeing Emmet again. Losing him the first time hurt, but this…there’s ash where my heart used to beat. A black hole never to be filled.

He texts me but hasn’t come home.

We’re all in impossible situations and I can’t fix any of them. There’s no fairy wand to wave and mend all our broken hearts and set the wrongs right. The urge to go to Alec and help him weighs on me. Out of everything, it’s the easiest to fix. It’s temporary.

But I’ve learned my lesson, and it’s up to him to work things out with Von. He has to live with the consequences of his actions, not me. All I can do is help Von and hope Alec in his grief doesn’t do something unforgiveable.

My assistant accosts me in the back hall of the gallery.

“Oh, thank God you’re back. I need to leave early.”

Of course she does. I’ve had enough.

“No,” I say and step toward my office.

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