Page 75 of Bared Betrayal
“That’s not what I’m doing. I’m trying to make you see that you’re not to blame for everything that went wrong in your life, Kallie.”
I stare at the floor. “I should have listened to you.” My eyes meet his. “I should have left town, left Sebastian the moment we realized what we had done. It should have been my first clue that I’m on yet another road to destroying the ones I care for.” I breathe in deeply, letting the air fill my lungs as my resolve starts to build little by little, realization finally setting in.
I step away from Gabriel, pulling a hand through my messy hair. “Someone is out there. Someone who knows who I really am, who knows my story, threatening to use it against me, and destroy Sebastian.”
“I fail to see how this will destroy Sebastian.”
“Don’t you get it? The media twists everything. They contort the truth, bend it, shape it, manipulate it in a way that gives them power—a way that makes them powerful enough to control the minds and perspectives of people.”
“A conspiracy?”
“A reality,” I state simply. “I lived through it. Maya and I were caught in the middle of it. And with every article, every news show, talk show, documentary, they just kept adding to it. One day, I’m painted as the brave older sister who jumped into a stranger’s van trying to save her sister. And the next day I’m the drug addict piece of shit whose addiction got her and her sister kidnapped, raped, and tortured.” I scoff. “They even went as far as saying that I was trying to pimp my sister to pay off a drug debt.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Gabriel mutters under his breath.
“If this comes out, if Kalliana Pearson is tied to Sebastian Stone in any way, they will bend it, break it, exploit it, and engineer it into something they can control.”
“This is insane,” Gabriel says as he starts to pace, rubbing his hand behind his neck.
“Sebastian Stone will go from being the new Hollywood A-lister, to being Sebastian Stone, the idiot who didn’t know his fiancée is one of the Pearson sisters—sisters whose faces once appeared on every newspaper, every milk carton, and every goddamn television set in the entire US.”
“We’ll deal with it.I’lldeal with it.”
“No. You can’t clean my mess. I need to leave. Make sure my fucked-up past doesn’t blow back on Sebastian and ruin his new career. I’ll pull my work from his gallery. Give me a week. I will be gone before he gets back. He can find someone who isn’t so broken, who won’t crave things he can’t give.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he says sternly.
“Sebastian is good man. He deserves better.” I meet his gaze. “And so do you, Gabriel.”
He wipes the corner of his lips with his thumb. “If you think I’m going to let you walk out of here, you are sorely mistaken.”
“Gabriel, please,” I say, pinching my eyes closed, feeling my heart constrict in my chest.
“I’m not letting you run again, Kallie.”
I place my palm in front of my mouth, trying to smother my whimpers.
“You’re done running,” he says, placing his arms on my shoulders. “Do you understand me? You need to stop punishing yourself. You were a child, and you tried everything you could to help your sister.”
“I didn’t do enough,” I cry.
“Of course you did enough!”
I shake my head, unable to say a word through the sobs.
He pulls me close again, squeezing so tight it hurts, but I want it to. “You can’t be blamed for living in a world full of sick, perverted fuckers.” He takes my face in his palms, forcing me to look at him. “Do you understand me?”
He forces my face up more when I don’t respond.
“Do you understand me?”
And all I can do is nod…a weak little nod. But deep down, I know the truth, and there’s nothing Gabriel can say to change it.
Twenty
GABRIEL
Kallie has beenasleep for hours now, and I can’t do anything but lie next to her with my thoughts going into overdrive. I consider, for a moment, leaving her to sleep alone, but I just can’t let her out of my sight. When she wakes up, I need to be here. I need to be the one to provide whatever she needs. When she is asleep like this, emotionally drained and naked, she is vulnerable in a way I never want anyone else to see.
