Page 143 of Through the Water

“This is our future, Tristan. No more secrets. Growing up, I was forced to tell you my sins, it seems only fitting you tell me yours.” The ground quaked beneath my feet, but by some miracle, I managed to remain upright.

A slow smirk spread across his face. “There are going to be consequences for this, Ariana.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

He leaned against a bookshelf casually, but his eyes glinted with barely suppressed rage. We both knew he couldn’t hurt me here. There were too many witnesses.

Instead, he wrapped a large hand around my bicep and yanked me forward. “Someone within my own house was conspiring against me, so I did what I had to do to protect my assets,” he hissed, sending spittle onto my cheek.

“What are you saying?” I pushed, dread swirling in my belly.

“I’m saying I made the tough choices,” he growled, squeezing my arm in a punishing grip. “Now, it’s your turn.”

“You can’t say it.” I winced and shifted my weight from one foot to the other, struggling to free myself. “I’ve given you everything, yet you still won’t tell me the truth.”

With a condescending sneer, he released my arm and sent me stumbling back in my heels. I caught myself on the edge of his desk and released a shaky exhale, watching him warily.

His face was almost purple, the muscle in his jaw twitching wildly. “‘A worthy wife is a crown for her husband, but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones.’ You know how you get rid of a tumor, little dove? You cut it out.”

---