Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 83800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83800 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 419(@200wpm)___ 335(@250wpm)___ 279(@300wpm)
I swallow, the pit in my stomach growing larger and spreading like cancer to every cell in my body at the sight of her. She looks less put together than I'd ever seen her, and I know by the irritation around her eyes that she spent the night crying. If I could reach out to her and pull her into my arms at this moment, I wouldn't even hesitate, text messages be damned.
This isn't the kind of shit you can fake.
She's just a regular woman, even as extraordinary as I know she is.
She isn't a con artist or an actress who Henry sought as part of his plan to hurt me.
"You hurt me," she whispers, more because her voice is weak rather than trying to conceal what she's saying from anyone. "I wish you really would've just left me alone because this really sucks."
My heart shatters as she turns and walks away. There's no longer any doubt in my mind that she had absolutely nothing to do with Henry past what she told us happened. He had to have somehow managed to clone her phone and send those texts back and forth, despite me spending hours determining that it didn't happen. It all had to have been fabricated.
I've ruined any chance I had with her, and I can't help but understand somehow that we were meant to be together forever. She was my soulmate, and I let the history with my brother ruin the best thing that has ever happened to me.
There's no way she would forgive this, but that doesn't mean I should give up, either. I owe it to both of us to try and get her back, no matter what it costs me.
Chapter 31
Morgan
I may have never decided to stay single for any given reason, but how I've felt since the second I left the Cerberus villa is enough to make me avoid dating for the rest of my life.
I wasn't fool enough to turn down Kaylee's offer for her and Ellis to stay with me at my house, but I kept my distance from them all night.
I can understand how this looks. I'm not a computer genius, but Robert is supposed to be.
Even if he couldn't find proof that I didn't participate in those text messages with his brother, I feel like he could've at least given me the benefit of the doubt. Then again, that may be putting too much faith in what we were building together. From the looks of it and his utter silence during the entire encounter, he believes that I had been part of some ploy to ruin his life.
There's more proof in his actions and inactions that screamed that he had not formed as strong a connection to me as I had to him.
The pain that kept me up all night still ached right in the center of me, and no matter how many times I have lifted my hand to massage the heavy grief away, I just can't seem to reach it.
I've made countless mistakes today at work, proof that I should've just stayed home in bed. I thought moving forward would help me keep him off my mind, but I've had to leave my desk half a dozen times already to sob quietly in the restroom. It's become so noticeable that I've felt people watching me all day long.
No one has approached me with concern or asked me if I'm okay, which I'm grateful for, but it hasn't stopped them from keeping an eye on me as if they're afraid I'm on the edge and going to snap at any moment. I should probably stand up and tell them all to mind their business, that it's just a broken heart, but honestly, I don't have the energy for that either.
My lunch hour is spent with my head tucked into my arms, facedown at my desk. Just the idea of food makes my stomach turn.
Guilt coats me like algae on river rocks from all the times I internally chastised people for getting upset over a romantic partner. I saw them as fools for letting someone else have so much control over their emotional state. I had absolutely no clue how easy it was for an outside force to make you feel so terrible.
I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Well, maybe on Henry because he's the mastermind controlling all our lives.
The fact that Robert couldn't even look me in the eye hurts the most. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking that if he took just a moment to really look at me, he'd know I could never do something like I'm being accused of.
I'm not a fool. I know how it looks. I had Twisted's attention, and instead of giving into that like I would've done before the trauma Henry dished out at my Halloween party, I put all of my focus on a man who looked exactly like the man who manipulated me and hurt my friend.