Page 95 of Shattered By Grace

Then it was gone.

“You should’ve never come back.” He turned sharply.

“Where are you going?” Victoria asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Tristan let out a breath, almost a laugh, but there was no amusement in it. “Anywhere but here.” His voice was cold steel. “Because if I stay, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Something inside Victoria snapped. “No.” She grabbed his arm. “You don’t get to just walk away, Tristan.”

He stopped, muscles tight beneath her grip. Pulling his arm away.

“Look at me,” she demanded.

When he finally did, it wasn’t the Tristan she knew. This Tristan was closed-off. And it hurt.

“I came back to this city to start living again,” she said, her voice unsteady. “I came back to find peace. But my past caught up with me, and I won’t apologize for wanting answers.”

His jaw clenched, the muscle ticking in his cheek.

“At first… yes, I used you,” she said. The words cut as she forced them out. “But it wasn’t intentional. I stumbled into that gym late at night, shaking from another nightmare about the night my father died, the night I got the shit beaten out of me.”

She inhaled sharply. “I didn’t know it was your family’s gym. I didn’t even know who you were until I heard your last name.” She let out a bitter laugh, raking a hand through her hair. “I knew of the Locke twins, but my father never gave me details. I was kept in the dark,” her voice wavered. “God, how did this get so fucked up?”

Tears slipped down her face, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. “Once I found out who you were, yeah, the plan was to get close. To find out information about your family, the deals, all of it,” her voice cracked as she looked up at him. Her breath hitched, but she pushed forward, voice breaking under the weight of everything she’d held back.

“But then you ruined everything.” The words were sharp, unfiltered. “I was supposed to keep my distance, to stay focused. But you got under my skin, Tristan. And the worst part?” She let out a shaky breath, her hands curling into fists. “I let you. I let you crawl into places I swore no one would ever reach.”

She stepped closer, heart pounding against her ribs. “I wasn’t lying about all of it, Tristan. I?—”

Before she could finish, he moved. In one sharp motion, he grabbed her waist and yanked her forward,spinning her until her back hit the wall.

Tristan’s expression remained deceptively calm, but his hand moved in a blur, grabbing her wrist and pinning it above her head. He didn’t press, didn’t hurt her, but his control was absolute.

“Don’t push me, not right now.” His voice was restrained, like he was holding something back.

“I’m not scared of you.” She lifted her chin.

Tristan’s eyes darkened, his grip firm but steady. “You should be.”

His voice was rough. “I don’t know what’s worse.” He exhaled sharply, his breath controlled but ragged beneath the surface. “That you lied to me… or that I still fucking want you anyway.”

Chapter Forty-Three

She swallowed hard, forcing the words out even as they shredded her from the inside. “If you don’t want me,” she whispered, “then walk away. Hate me. Turn me over to your father if that’s what you need to do, just make it stop.”

Tristan didn’t move. Didn’t blink. For a split second, she let herself hope.

Then, slowly, he exhaled. A long, measured breath that sent ice through her veins.

And then, he stepped back.

One step.

Then another.

She saw it in his eyes, this was the moment he decided she wasn’t worth the war.

Her chest caved in, panic clawing at her ribs.

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