Page 35 of Tempting My Nemesis

“What are you doing here?” His tone hardens.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing, Caleb?" I gesture at the equipment surrounding us. "You've been lying to me. Hiding all this. Who are you, really?"

Caleb’s expression shifts from concern to cold calculation in an instant.

“You had no right,” he growls, stepping closer.

“No right?” My voice rises with anger. “You’ve been lying to me this entire time! Involved in something dangerous and illegal!”

His jaw tightens. “You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand!” I shout back.

Caleb takes a deep breath, but his eyes remain hard as steel. “This isn’t what it looks like.”

I shake my head, disbelief washing over me. "Then what is it? Because all I see is a man who's been deceiving me."

"Zoe, I can explain—" he starts, desperation creeping into his tone.

"Then explain," I cut him off. "Because right now, it looks like you've been playing me this whole time."

My eyes burn with unshed tears. The man I thought I loved feels like a stranger. Was any of it real?

Caleb steps forward, his voice pleading.

"Zoe, please... I kept it from you to protect you, to protect us. I never wanted you to find out this way."

I back away, shaking my head. The tears finally spill over.

"I don't even know who you are anymore," I whisper.

The room spins around me, the cold metal of the computers a stark contrast to the warmth I once felt in Caleb's arms. My chest heaves as sobs threaten to break free.

"How could you?" I choke out, my voice raw. "I trusted you, Caleb. I... I love you!"

The admission hangs in the air between us, heavy and painful. Caleb's eyes widen, a mix of shock and longing flashing across his face.

"Zoe, please," he begs, reaching for me. "Everything I've done, I've done for us. For you."

I jerk away from his touch, my back hitting the wall.

"Don't!" I cry out. "Don't you dare say this was for me. You lied to me, Caleb. Every moment, every touch, every kiss... was it all just part of your game?"

My hands shake as I wrap my arms around myself, trying to hold the pieces of my shattered heart together.

"I gave you everything," I whisper, my voice breaking. "My trust, my body, my heart... and all this time, you've been living a double life. How am I supposed to believe anything you say now?"

Caleb's face crumples, his usual mask of control slipping away. "Zoe, I swear to you, my feelings for you are real. They're the most real thing in my life."

But the words that once would have melted my heart now feel like daggers. "How can I believe you?" I ask, my voice barely audible. “How can I trust anything when you can hide something like this so easily?

"No wonder you've been distant and pulling away," I continue, my voice rising. "All I am to you is a a convenient cover for your secret life, aren’t I? Was that the plan all along, Caleb? Use me to protect your precious empire while you play cyber vigilante?"

I push past him, needing to escape the suffocating weight of his secrets. As I reach the stairs, I turn back, my vision blurred by tears. "I thought I knew you, Caleb. I thought what we had was special. But now... now I don't even know if the man I fell in love with ever really existed."

With those words, I flee up the stairs, leaving behind the shattered remains of what I thought was love, my heart breaking with every step.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

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