Page 192 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

“PLEASE—-”

Inch by inch, he saw her carved-up face—-

“How many times will you make me beg—-” Her voice cracked.

And it was the most painfully beautiful thing he had ever seen.

His eyes burned with hers.

His heart bled with her.

And his soul wept with her.

“Fawn.” His own voice broke, and the prince’s voice turned into a strained whisper. “Fawn. Fawn. Fawn –I love you.”

Her tears fell faster, making her scars glisten with vicious vividness.

“I have loved you from the very start.”

She shook her head at him, silent in her despair, and his voice became desperate. “Meredith Grayson was wrong.I was wrong.”

But still she cried, and still her eyes told him hope no longer existed in her.

His fingers tightened around her wrists. It was almost as if he could feel her slipping away from him, and the thought made him say in a low, driven tone, “I was lying to myself the whole time. The entire time I kept pushing you away, I kept telling myself that it was for your sake, when all along...it was formysake. I was pushing you away because you reached the part of me that not even the people who died for me—-” He sucked his breath. “My parents. Georgie. I owed my life to them, Fawn.My life.But Dio, angel, what I feel for them is nothing compared to how I feel for you.”

He brought her hands to his chest, letting her feel the frantic beat of his heart.

“I love you. I have always loved you. And I will always love you.”

The prince’s words made Fawn shudder.

“I love you, Fawn.”

“I love you, angel.”

And she could no longer stop weeping.

Her head fell.

“How?” she asked brokenly. “H-how can I believe you when I—-”

The prince started to tip her chin up.

“No!” Panic seized her, and Fawn tried to pull away, but the prince was too strong, and soon he had forced her to look at him again, her face completely exposed.

A sob escaped her. “Stop looking at me!”

“I can’t.” The prince’s voice was harsh. “Because I’ve never seen anything more beautiful—-”

“L-liar.”

The prince started to lower his head.

Oh God.

She cried out, trying to lean back, to shove him away, to keep him from reaching her—-

His lips touched the scar on her forehead.

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