Page 112 of He Loves Me Knot

Everything he’d ever known about his mother was a lie.

A mixture of emotions played on Isla’s face. She was clearly flabbergasted but also. . .sad?“I can’t believe you never knew,” she said softly. “Didn’t Sophia ever say anything?”

“Sophia?”Good God.She’d known about it, too? Callum raked his fingers over his scalp. “Carmen got so sick right after we’d started dating. Sophia never wanted to talk about her. She’d just start crying. Then she died, and it was even worse.”

“I guess that makes sense. You weren’t here that often after you went to university, anyway. And you were a kid before that, really.”

He scanned Isla’s face. “It’s hard to believe you have a relationship with Mum after all she’s done. She’s even worse than I thought, Isla. She destroyed our family. Cheated on Dad. Encouraged my relationship with someone she thought of as mystepsister?”

“I know.” Isla set her hand on his. “And I get it, I do. I get why you’re mad. But she’s also our mum. And the way I see it, I can either have a mum and accept that she’s human and imperfect or I can cut my family off and be lonely and miserable like you. And this is my home. I don’t want to lose it. Not when I could save it...if you’d help me.”

“It’s not my home. And in my case, Mum has spent the last five years whitewashing the same sort of betrayal that she dealt out, telling me I should forgive and forget. Making me feel like I was less important to her than the daughter of her bes—her partner.”

Isla fidgeted in her seat. “Maybe it’s not Sophia that she’s eager to have you forgive, Cal.”

Callum stood. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t forgive her. Not for picking Sophia and especially not for picking Carmen. And I have no interest in saving her little dream here, no matter how attached to it you are.” He gestured toward the office. “So don’t ask again.”

He left Isla there, his blood boiling.

Veering off the path to the bungalows, he made his way down toward the beach, stopping short when he came to a clearing in the jungle.

He drew in a deep breath, the sweetly scented, humid air filling his lungs that they had been desperately deprived of.

Goddammit.

He didn’t want to hurt Isla. She was the person who mattered the most to him. The one constant in his life.

But it had all started here.

All the hurt.

Confusion.

Betrayal.

Being a scared nine-year-old kid who no longer had a home, no longer had a family altogether in the same place at the same time. Who shuttled from one place to the next, never feeling like any place was his.

Rootless.

He sat on the path, drawing his knees in as he wrapped his arms around his legs.

And I’m just supposed to forgive all that?

Mum’s dreams had destroyed his life.

He caught sight of one of the scars on his leg.

And then this place destroyed mine.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

“Morning, gorgeous.”Callum’s voice was husky as Liddy woke up, still tangled in his arms.

She murmured a response, then sunk her head back on the pillow, barely feeling like she could move. Somehow, though, Callum’s hand roved up her thigh, skimming hungrily.

“I’m still asleep.” She laughed as his fingers found her swollen clit. He was hard already, and she shifted her legs open as she curled her ass into his erection.

He pushed his way inside her effortlessly, like he hadn’t fucked her six—or was it seven—times throughout the night. Thank God she’d still been taking the pill, even during this crazy trip. They’d ditched the condoms after the first time.

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