Page 334 of Hateful Games

He rounds to my side, sensing it. Proving he knows me better than I know myself.

However, it’s not true at all, is it?

He didn’t trust me when I desperately needed him the most. My brain starts to make excuses that he was grieving, drinking, and hurting. All of them valid, but his cruel words, they sting and stick like an incurable disease, killing me slowly.

The ugly truths he intentionally kept from me stab me in the chest, twisting my insides until I’m bleeding from the shards. I remember every single word he said.

“We’re over.”

“Only know how to cheat, lie, and break hearts.”

“I can never forgive you.”

“There’s no coming back from this, Rosalie.”

The last two break my heart the most. I shiver when he cups my cheeks and bends to press his lips in a whisper of a kiss all over my face. My forehead, my eyes, my cheeks… my lips.

The pain meds feeding into my veins have made me numb. Yet I’m not immune to his touch and taste the salt from my tears. His fingers brush them away.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmurs, our foreheads touching. “Please forgive me, Rose. There is no excuse for the way I behaved and pushed you away, the way I sent you back. I would’ve died if I had lost you. Tell me what happened.”

“I had no intention of going home and decided to go to Bianca’s instead, but he… my uncle was waiting in the cab for me.” I swallow at the utter terror I had felt when I realized I was caught. “He had a gun and I didn’t know what to do.”

“It was my fault. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” Nova goes rigid with unleashed fury, and I know half of it is aimed at himself. None of this would’ve happened if he hadn’t let me go. Rubbing my back, he promises with conviction, “He’s not touching you ever again. He died in the fire, Rose. You’re safe now.”

I clutch his forearm, forcing him to look at me. I hold in my sob as I tell him the truth about his mom. “Your mom’s car crash, it wasn’t an accident. My dad and uncle knew she was coming to meet me… They killed her, Nova. You were right all along. It was them behind your kidnapping. I didn’t know they were capable of it. I’m sorry.” Despair and anguish make him shudder. He stills, arms going lax around me. I hold on to him with my unbroken arm. “I swear I didn’t know, you have to believe me.”

“I do,” he groans roughly, hiding his face in the crook of my neck. “None of it was your fault. Never will I make the same mistake. I just need you to get better and stronger, Rose.”

We stay locked in an embrace. Nova sitting beside me on the bed as we grieve the loss of his mom together. He leans on me, unlike the previous night. His sad tears licking my skin.

A knock on the door pulls us apart.

Nova stands straight, holding my hand as we face the two officers entering.

“If you’re ready, we’d like to ask you a couple of questions, Mrs. D’Cruz,” the older one between the two says, their expression sealed.

“Of course.”

“Can you start from the beginning? Where were you when the fire started?”

Taking a deep breath, I confess everything. The years and months of manipulation, child abuse at my uncle’s and father’s hands, the blackmailing, Teresa’s murder, and lastly, the night Uncle kidnapped me. I don’t pause or shed a tear as I admit to every horrific detail. Shooting the cab driver, hitting and kicking me.

The tension mounts in the air, sharp enough to cut with a knife.

Somewhere during my heartbreaking speech, Nova loses his calm and paces back and forth in the corner. At times, he looks torn, and other times, enraged. His contriteness visible over the sharp angles of his face, jaw clenched while those eyes become anguished.

Once I’m done, Nova gives his own statement and confirms the blackmailing. The leaking of his clients’ files and other sensitive information. However, neither of us speak about the pictures of his dad exchanging money.

The policemen exchange a look. The younger one takes the order and immediately puts the phone to his ear, probably to demand a search for the body of the driver. As well as confirmation on identification of my uncle.

“One last question… Do you believe your father could be behind the rumor of the affair behind Danish and your mother?”

I go ramrod still, completely forgetting about Nova’s threat. However, I maintain my composure instead of cutting my accusatory stare to Nova. His own expression sealed tight into a neutral one. He takes a step forward, about to confess, but I cut him off.

“Yes, I think he must’ve been.” I feel Nova’s intense stare locked on my profile but I dare not turn. “Another tactic to ruin my father in-law’s reputation.”

After a couple of more follow-up questions, he shuts his notepad.

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