Page 52 of In Love with a Ruthless Man

Silence.

And then Reid said bleakly, “You deserve better.”

Ah.

In the three agonizing days she had been under those men’s power, she had never once cried. Even now, she didn’t know how it was that she had been able to keep herself from crying, with all the ways they had defiled her.

But she hadn’t.

And yet right now, the tears were suddenly impossible to stop.

It was that look in Reid’s eyes, she thought numbly.

A look that told her—-

No matter how much he wished otherwise—-

He did not love her.

The tears fell faster.

In spite of what she had done, what she had gone through, Reid Chalkias was still not in love with her.

A part of Georgette had already expected this, but her foolish heart had still hoped for the impossible.

Even so, what she had said was still true.

Even as she remembered the terror that seized her heart when she realized she was being kidnapped—-

Even as she remembered the despair that strangled her throat as the men began tearing her clothing off—-

Even as she remembered the pain that consumed her when they started carving their initials on her body—-

She would still have made the same choice.

Because she loved him.

A painful sob was fast climbing out of her throat, but this time she fought to keep it down. In front of her, Reid was ashen, and for one moment Georgette wanted to be selfish. She wanted to tell him that it didn’t matter if he didn’t love her. He couldlieto her, couldn’t he? She deserved that, didn’t she?

“Georgie—-”

Never had his voice sounded more beautiful and painful.

Because now she knew that voice could never say her name with the love she had always wanted from him.

The knowledge had Georgette gulping back another sob.

Reid clenched his fists. “Georgie, if there’s—-”

She cut him off desperately, saying, “I h-have something to ask you.” She couldn’t let him finish. She might not know him well, but she knew him enough to know what he had been about to say – just as she knew she couldn’t ever let herself hear his words.

Because right now she might just be weak enough to take it.

Turning her gaze away from him, she said haltingly, “I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything.”

Ah.

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