Page 48 of Altered

Shuddering, she exhaled a sigh. "I'm sorry."

"Stop saying you're sorry!" I roared desperately. "Just…just say you'll give us another chance." Fear clouded my vision, making it impossible to think clearly. All I could see was her leaving. I couldn’t handle it.

Icouldn’t.

"I'm not her, Jordan," Hope choked out, confusing me. With tear-filled eyes, she looked up at me for what felt like the first time in an age and said, "You once told me that the boy I loved was dead?" Chewing on her bottom lip, she blinked away her tears before squeezing out, "It's the same for me. The girl I used to be is gone… I'm not her anymore."

This was it.

The final piece of the jigsaw slipping away from me.

Gone…

"We made vows."

"We did," she whispered quietly. "And you broke them first."

I gaped at her in disgust, feeling like the wind had been knocked clean out of my lungs. "You know why," I hissed. "Why I left!"

"I do, and I forgive you for it," she agreed, sobbing softly. "I hope you can do the same for me one day."

"You're giving up on me," I whispered, numb to the bone.

I'd spent so long thinking the best thing for Hope was to let me go, but now that her actually leaving was staring me in the face, I couldn’t fucking bear it.

"Don’t say it like that," Hope begged, clutching the fabric covering her chest.

"What other way is there to say it?" I snapped. "You're walking out on me. On our marriage. That's called giving up on me." I ran a hand through my hair in sheer helplessness. "You severed it, Hope," I choked out. "My heart? You ripped it apart. Shit on everything we had. Everything we were fighting for? It's gone now. Fucking ruined. Because you couldn’t wait for me."

"I'm not giving up on you," she cried hoarsely. "I'm always going to be here for you –"

"Are you serious?" I snarled, furious. "Are you honestly going to stand there and give me the 'we can still be friends' talk?" I threw my head back and roared, releasing every ounce of pain inside in my body.

But it wasn’t enough.

Not enough by half.

"You want to walk out on our marriage, then say it," I bit out, feeling that final chord to my self-control snap away. "Say the fucking words, Hope. Tell me why!"

"Don’t do this," she begged, clenching her eyes shut as tears dripped down her cheeks. "Please…"

"Say it!" I roared. "Tell me why you're leaving me!"

"Because I lovehim," she screamed, then covered her face in her hands. With her back pressed to the bedroom door, she sank to the floor and wept. "I'm in love with him."

"Him?" I roared, feeling the tears burn in my own eyes. "He's a fucking murderer, Hope. Abadperson!"

"No," she sniffled. "He's not a bad person, Jordan. I’m the bad one in this. I'm the one with the wedding ring…" Her words broke off as a racking sob tore through her. "I'm the one to blame."

"Oh, don’t fucking worry," I managed to choke out. "My opinion of you isn’t much better right now." Breathing hard, I strived to reign in my feelings and gain some semblance of self-control. "You want to leave me? I can't stop you," I finally said. "But I sure as hell can stop you from making the biggest mistake of your life."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" she hiccupped, eyes puffy. "Stop me how?"

"I know what he did, Hope," I snarled. "I saw him cart a body out of your parents' house last night – saw you with him afterwards!" The anger, hurt, and betrayal building up inside of my body gave me the strength to say, "And I amnotgoing to allow that to happen to you!"

I knew how it sounded and I didn’t care.

She was the girl I'd grown up loving and I would rather die than watch her fall into a life of crime withhim.

---