"Because you cheated!" I yell. "You slept with another woman!"

He exhaled angrily. "I didn't."

I laughed. "Oh please, are you trying to say I'm stupid and I don't know what cheating looks like? Just because I didn't see your cock inside her doesn't mean I know what it looks like."

"No," he snapped. "I'm saying I didn't because I fucking staged it to look like I was."

I felt like someone had slapped me, and I felt my entire body freeze. I stared at him with wide eyes and then took a step backward. He what?

Chapter 20 - Owen

I can see the look of shock in her eyes. I shouldn't have told her this way, but I can't lose her again. If coming clean was the way to keep her here, then so be it. I would gladly take her screaming at me and then walking away again.

"What do you mean you staged it?" she asked, looking like she didn't know who I was anymore.

"I didn't actually cheat…I just made it look like I did."

"Yeah, you already said that," she snapped, baring her teeth at me. That doesn't tell me what you mean!" She crossed her arms, looking at me with a killing look.

I took a slow breath in, trying to think of how to word it. "Your dad threatened me the week before. He knew we were still secretly seeing each other and wanted me to stop seeing you."

"So, you faked cheating!?" she asked, her eyebrows going up.

"No," I shook my head. "I told him I wouldn't…and that’s when he told me your mom was sick again.

Her face paled.

"He said that if I ended things, you would have more time with your mom. That or he was going to move you all and that you would follow. I knew that you were going to go overseas and I figured juggling that and your mother’s sickness was hard going to be hard enough.Her eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you just tell me? What the hell happened to our agreement to speak about everything? You told me about every other time that they threatened you."

I had….but none of them were like the last one. The thought of her moving somewhere hit a nerve I didn't evenrealize existed. I had never felt I wasn't good enough for her until that night when her father made it seem so clear.

"You should have told me," she said, shaking her head. "You should have spoken to me instead of just making a decision like that."

"I wish I had…" I admit. "But I thought I was doing the right thing."

"By breaking my heart?" she asked, tilting her head. "You think breaking my heart was going to make my life better?"

"Ashley…" I stuttered. "I thought I was doing the right thing. Your folks were never going to accept me. I didn’t want to continue being the reason your family was ripping apart.

"I'm so sick of everyone thinking they know what is best for me!" she yelled, turning away and shaking her head as she started to pace. "So let me see if I got this. My father threatened you to leave me alone, saying he was going tomove us, and you decided instead of telling me to make it look like you were cheating?"

"Ashley, I only did this because I wanted you to be happy."

"I was happy!" she yelled, turning back to me. "I was over the moon, Owen! And you destroyed something so perfect! You destroyed a perfectly beautiful relationship, and what kills me is you did it because of my father!"

I knew she was going to be angry, and there was nothing I could say to lessen it.

She ran a hand through her hair as she continued to pace. "Jesus, out of everyone, you know the amount of shit I have to put up with."

"I know."

She turned back, and her eyes narrowed. "You should have told me! You should have spoken to me. I would have handled it."

I wished I had told her, but I knew a small part of me wondered if I was right for her. A small part of me thought her father was actually right and that she deserved someone else. I saw the way he held his wife and I always wondered how I would handle things if Ashley ever got sick.

I knew I loved Ashley, but was it supposed to be as hard as it was? Was loving someone supposed to come with so much hatred?

"Ashley, I just wanted you to be happy...I wanted you to have everything you deserved.