Page 113 of The Photograph

And thank fuck for that.

I shift back and lock my eyes onto hers. “Let me get this straight. You accepted to marry me only after I got you the perfect ring even though you hated how much I had to work to be able to afford it. You get pregnant while we’re engaged, abort the baby without so much as a discussion with me, then you leave me with a note saying you needed more while my brother is fighting for his life. A month later, you marry someone old enough to be your father, only to realize you were in love with me after all?”

She curls her lips into a semblance of a smile.

“I was young.Wewere young, Gabe. All you did was work. You had no time for me, for us. You can’t blame for finding someone who only saw me … just me, and for whom I was enough.”

Christ, she’s unbelievable.“Vanessa, you’ve always been enough for me. The problem is, I wasn’t enough for you.”

The woman I thought would be my life partner and the mother of our children shuffles on her heels, unable to say the words that would force her to admit, even to herself, that no one, nothing would ever be enough.

Swiping off her crocodile tears, she says, “I’m sorry, okay? I was wrong and I should have been more … patient.”

“Yeah, maybe wait until I knew my brother would survive his accident.”

“I saw Michael earlier and he was fine, I—”

“Vanessa, go home.”

She clutches my shirt. “I’m going to fight for you, Gabe, I know you still have feelings for me—”

I pull her wrists down. “You’re right, I do, but they aren’t of forgiveness. Your husband is divorcing you because you fucked your way through half of London. Did you really think I’d take back your lying, cheating ass?” She gasps. “I never will, and the only thing I’m grateful for is you showed me your true colors before I married you.”

Her eyes turn cold, and she jabs her finger into my chest. “You think that girl’s any better? You’re great in bed, Gabe, but she’ll tire fast of your caveman-I-don’t-have-any-feelings routine, and the only reason she’ll stay if she can accept your perverted sexuality is because you have money.”

The fucking nerve of that woman.“My perverted sexuality?”

She smiles a cruel grimace. “I bet you haven’t told her she’ll be your tied-up fuck toy.”

The woman’s a snake. A venomous bitch who finally remembers to call me Gabe. “Vanessa, you’re the one who couldn’t come if you weren’t tied up.” I lean in. “You won’t get anything from me. Go the fuck home, Vanessa.”

I step in the ballroom where alcohol has loosened the atmosphere making the crowd louder.Where’s Aelin?

Moving to the back of the house where the security and catering team have set their equipment van, I slow down at the sound of gravel crunching.

“You’re beautiful, Aelin.”

Lover boy’s voice.Whipping my eyes to the corner of the house, I retreat back into a dark nook.

“Thank you, Johnnie.” There’s a smile in her voice. “You look very dapper yourself. So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Us.”

I jerk upright and shift closer. Caught between the moonlight and the glow of the fairy lights from the gardens, Aelin stands before the other man with her hands behind her back and her face tilted up.

“John, I love you. You know I do.”

My body goes solid. She loves him?

“But only as a friend. We’ve talked about this.”

The bastard cups her face and leans in “Aelin, you’ve loved me before. You can love me again and I love you enough for both of us.”

Aelin grabs his wrists to pull his hands down. “Johnnie, you were comfortable and safe, but I was never in love with you and if you’re honest with yourself you know you weren’t in love with me either. We dated for less than two months, but we’ve been friends for years. This is what we are, and this is the only part of me I can give you.”

“Is it because of him?”

Mind your tone, asshole.

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