Page 166 of Volatile Obsessions

? End Of Me - Ashes Remain ?

“Why?” she barked, tears rolling down her cheeks, steam all but billowing from her ears. “Why the fuck would you lie to me?”

Face burning, I was taken aback at first, shocked by her abrupt strike and the tornado in which she’d touched down.

But it hit me rather quickly, shooting my heart up to my throat.

Vic.

Despite my warning, despite the fact I’d left him in nothing but a mangled heap, he had to have called her after I took my leave and told her everything.

And if everything included what I thought it did, I was fucked.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, needing her to confirm before I opened my mouth and possibly made shit worse for myself.

“Really? You’re gonna stand there and play the clueless card?” she seethed, narrowing her blue eyes.

“What have I lied about?”

Her head jerked back in ire. “Oh my god, are you serious right now, Roman?!”

Roman.

The way she spouted my name so venomously—it stung more than it should have, nearly knocking the wind out of me.

She had to know…

“Just tell me!” I begged, feeling the ground tremble beneath our feet from a looming implosion.

“You knew Vic this whole time!” she yelled back. “You knew him this whole goddamn time, since you were fucking kids! You were helping him take me out, for fucks sake! Knew he was the stalker, too!”

And there it was.

Out in the open.

Freed from the shadows.

She knew it all.

“I can explain…” I stepped toward her, heart thrashing frantically, but she stepped back holding a warning hand up.

“Don’t. Touch. Me,” she gritted out. “You can try explaining from right there, but I won’t hold my breath.”

If words could kill, I’d have been six feet under right then and there.

Swallowing deeply, I raked an anxious hand through my hair, wondering how the hell I was going to fix this. “It started out that way, yes. But then I fell for you…”

Lux looked at me in pure disgust, lip curled in a snarl and all as she shook her head. “So that’s supposed to make it all okay? The fact that you “supposedly” fell for me?”

“Not supposedly, I did! I fucking love you!” I bellowed, wounded by her use of air quotes as if she didn’t know I loved her with every last facet of my being.

“You expect me to believe that? You’ve had plenty an opportunity to come clean, to tell me about Vic, and you’ve done nothing but lie from start!”

“I did it to protect you!” The desperation in my voice was clear, but Lux didn’t seem to be affected.

In the slightest.

Crossing her arms, she cocked her head to one side. “Protect me? From what?”

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