Page 115 of Darkest Deception

People like me don’t get happy endings.

People like Helia don’t love.

The moonlight spills into my room. The curtains have stopped flaring, and are softly humming to the tune of the wind outside. There is silence.

I can feel Helia’s racing heart.

The warmth from his hand on my stomach burns my skin. It settles on the small gap between my sports bra and my leggings. The soft rhythm of his breathing slowly lulls me to sleep, all fight leaving me.

“Who made you lose your fight, Ambrose?” Helia’s voice is the softest it has ever been.

“Why would I tell you?” I mumble.

His hand leaves my mouth and I sigh.

“Who hurt you, Ambrose? Who made you hate your body?” His voice is the same tone, same softness, but I know he feels anything but calm.

“The Madden sisters.” Why hide it when I know tomorrow holds nothing but loss and failure?

I swallow, the memories so haunting that I find myself grabbing Helia’s arm on my stomach.

He will get this from me, but tomorrow, that will all be gone.

I will resign. I will fight this case myself, and I will throw him out of my life.

Helia listens to it all until I finish describing everything that happened to me. I tell him about how mistreated I was, how Dad then forced me to steel myself to anyone who belittled me, humiliating them.

Helia doesn’t respond at all, but I keep speaking, wanting to get this burden off my chest.

Once I am done, I still, my eyes drooping.

“I’m proud of you for being so strong all this time, for giving back to the people you hurt,” he says.

That’s also a lie. I know it.

And I fall into slumber.

It’s been a cold world for me.

And I feel warmth seep into my heart for the first time.

Even if I know this won’t last.

He will be gone.

He won’t ever be mine, nor me his.

This isn’t a love story.

Helia created such a dark deception for me, and I fell for it. Now, we both are heading towards the wreckage that will rip us apart.

34

“Can you repeat the names?”

I grind my teeth, knowing Remo will be holding this over me, but I will take it knowing I am going to be leaving not one but hundreds of funerals for Ambrose at this point.

I gave her a couple of days to come to terms with what we had done when we slept together, but I didn’t expect her to lash out and be angry at the small information I let slip so she could figure out a part of me.

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