Page 101 of Desperate Desires

It wasn’t destiny or tragedy. It was survival, plain and simple, dressed up for the cameras.

All I wanted was to keep my Michelle far fucking away from all that.

I needed her trust.

I demanded it.

But to get it, I had to tell her the truth.

I had to lay my soul bare and confess just how much I fucked up this woman’s life by making her mine.

I only hoped she could forgive me.

Chapter 32-Shelly

Once Ono started talking, it was like the world disappeared and there was nothing left.

It was just him and me, trapped inside a vacuum filled with the dark, horrible truth. And when he finally stopped telling me everything—the trouble we were both in and what he’d done to stop it—I was left suspended somewhere between shock and horror.

I remained sitting on his lap for a few long minutes, letting the world around me dissolve into the background hum of nothingness.

It was how I liked to process things. No noise, no outside opinions, just the quiet space where my mind could breathe.

Quietly.

Slowly.

Allowing my thoughts to catch up with my emotional response.

Let me tell you, I’d run the gamut.

From fear to disbelief.

Anger to anguish.

Shock to acceptance.

And all the way back again.

I needed to let my emotions have some time to settle. Needed to sit with the chaos. Let it unfold in slow motion until I could make sense of it.

My thoughts moved like waves, surging and retreating, struggling to catch up with the storm of feelings crashing against the shore of my mind.

Someone had broken into my place? Into my car?

The icy grip of fear tightened inside my chest. Disbelief had me shaking my head, but I knew Ono was being real with me.

His hard expression told me that, and instead of being mad at him for lying, I found myself wanting to soothe him.

Am I an idiot for feeling that way?

“No, you’re not an idiot. You are the best damn woman I ever met. I never wanted to lie to you, Bellezza. You have to believe me,” he said.

Sincerity rang out in his voice, knocking the wind out of me. His blue eyes bore into mine, and I knew I was going to forgive him even before I nodded.

The truth was, I wanted to believe him.

I do believe him.

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