Page 103 of The Marine

“Do you or don’t you think I am responsible for killing your father, Briar Sutton?” I ground out and we stare at one another, feeling like the floor was about to dissolve under our feet.

Nothing feels solid and real.

This is where our past meets us here in the future with the truth. Our truth. No one else’s.

“Does it really matter anymore?” Briar whispers.

Fuck.

I want her to say no.

I want her to have grown in the past ten years and have become her own person, independent of her mother’s manipulations.

She hasn’t.

I feel like the hope I had earlier is slipping away. Suddenly, there’s one more question I need an answer to. One that, despite the information I have, I need to know now.

Not after tomorrow.

I need to fucking know if Briar Sutton loves me. If she does, like me, there will be no one else for her. Our love, unless it’s one sided and unrequited, is consuming, demanding, and powerful.

There is no space for anyone else.

“Answer me this, then.” My voice is firm as I try to keep my anger at bay.

“Are you divorcing him?”

She looks me straight in the eye for a long moment, then shakes her head. “No.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

KAEL

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Two nights in a row, Briar hasn’t stayed at her apartment.

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