Page 128 of Loving the Liar

“Ella, I broke up with Megan last Christmas. I didn’t lie. When I came to your house, I was not with her anymore. I saw the card on your desk, and I understood right away. The Shadows were going to kill my dad for not wanting to do his job within the Circle.”

And I remember Eugene Duval telling me the man who had gotten my dad in trouble had been punished accordingly.

I feel his behavior shift, his shoulders dropping. “Megan’s family is incredibly influential in the Circle. Enough that they could save someone’s life should they decide to. I messaged her, and I asked for her help.”

His grip turns to a flat hand on my cheek, and I don’t think he’s trying to stop me from running anymore. He’s seeking comfort.

“She said she’d help me. That she’d talk to her family and save my dad. That’s why I went back to her.”

“What happened?” A part of me feels horrible for him, even though I hate that part with a passion. “She said she’d help you, but clearly the Circle went for your dad anyway.”

Taking a step back, he sucks in a long breath. I can’t stand the defeat in his eyes, and he can’t stand me seeing it because he drops his gaze. “She helped me for a while…but this…” His gaze darts to the hospital bed. “This is how she punishes me.”

My eyebrows shoot up to my forehead.

“P-punishes you?” I hesitate.

He looks me in the eye again, digging so far into my soul I don’t trust myself not to melt right on the spot.

“Every time I do something she doesn’t like, my dad suffers.”

“She set the Circle on your dad?”

“He ended up here in the first place because she stopped telling them to leave us alone. It was August, the day before I tried to call you. I told her I wanted to leave her, and he ended up here in a coma. Poisoned. A couple of weeks ago, Reeves told her about us sleeping together. The doctor accidentally gave him the wrong dose of medicine. And today…I don’t know. I’m thinking she heard about me being at your dance lesson.”

“Oh my god,” I gasp, feeling like I might be sick. “Who…who does that?”

“Ella…”

“We’re doomed. You knew we were doomed all along. You’re stuck with her because if she doesn’t threaten your dad, she’ll threaten your mom or Juliette! It’ll never stop. You have to protect your family. You…you.” I can’t even say it. “You murdered my dad.”

Everything becomes too much. I’m overstimulated by every single sound that comes out of his mouth and the feeling of his skin on mine. I don’t recognize those reactions to him, and it brings a new wave of unwellness barrelling through me.

“Listen to me?—”

“Let me go. I’ll scream, staff will come. Let me go, Chris.”

“Please, I need you to have faith in me. I’m going to get away from her.”

“You spent weeks trying to get me back, knowing that we would never ever be together again. Wake the fuck up! You’re going to marry her because you don’t have a choice. You belong to her.”

He gets closer to me, if that’s even possible. His lips are a hairbreadth away from mine.

“An arranged wedding doesn’t count, Ella. Do you think I touch her like I touch you? Do you think I even touch her at all? Do you think my heart aches when I’m away from her? That I’d ever do anything to salvage my relationship with her?”

He does something I would have never expected from him. Chris. My Chris. The almighty man who lives for control…falls to his knees.

“Do you think I would get on my knees for her and beg her to trust me?”

My heart is beating so fast, I feel dizzy. The room is reeling, and I can’t focus my eyes on anything else but the man in front of me.

I struggle to take in a breath, my lungs tightening. “I’m scared of you,” I admit in a barely audible voice. “Of the things you make me feel.”

“Don’t be.” He buries himself against my stomach. “The things you feel can only be a fraction of my love for you.” As he presses his ear against my ribs, I understand what he’s doing. Listening to my heartbeat.

“When your heartbeat picks up, mine is already racing.” He looks up at me, pressing a hand against my chest. “When your lungs feel tight from the overwhelming love between us, mine are crushed.”

The light reflects the passion in his gaze, and I feel the urgent need to fall to my knees.

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