Page 55 of I Would Die for You

My jaw spasms involuntarily as I force myself to look at him. “Look, we can sit down and go through everything that you’ve read.”

“It’s not what’s written about the case that I’m interested in—it’s what’snotwritten that bothers me. Because it seems that, despite you supposedly telling ‘the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ in court”—he floats speech marks in the air with his fingers—“the media didn’t believe you.”

“Iwasn’t the one on trial,” I snap, unable to stop the barrage of images from battering my senses—the salacious headlines, the annihilation of my character in the courtroom, fans protesting, calling for justice.

“Well, maybe you should have been, because if you’re able to keep secretsthiseasily…” He leaves the sentence there as he raises his eyebrows questioningly.

“You havenoidea what happened,” I hiss.

“I know that you weretherethat day—that you were treated as a suspect!”

“And quickly eliminated.”

He shrugs his shoulders, but nothing about his body language is blasé. “I need to know what I’m dealing with,” he says.

“Meaning?” I say, unable to believe the shift in the conversation. How amIbeing made out to be the villain here?Maybe because you are, a voice says in the back of my head.

“I’ve got Hannah to think about,” Brad goes on.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” I spit, restraining myself from taking the beer bottle from the side and smashing it over his head. Maybe he’s got a point.

“I just need to make sure she’s safe,” he says, pushing me to my limit.

“She’s as safe now as she’s ever been,” I seethe. “Nothing’s changed apart from you finding out why I really left England.”

“And so it has nothing to do with the tragic death of your sister?”

I eye him warily, unable to predict where he’s going with this.“Well, of course, that didn’t help. It was a lot to take on, and it all happened within a matter of months.”

He attempts to display a sympathetic expression, but its sincerity falls woefully short.

“It must have been so very hard for you,” he says.

His tone has a biting iciness to it, and I shrug nonchalantly to offset the toxicity that’s permeating the charged atmosphere. But inside, I feel like a fox being chased by hounds, and I almost want to give myself up so that I can be put out of my misery.

“It was,” is all I feel safe saying.

Brad nods and puts his hands on his hips. “So, that’s it? I know all there is to know; there’s nothing more you need to tell me…”

My heart stops.This is it.This is my chance to put it all on the table, to be honest with the man I love so that I can stop running from the truth.

His eyes burrow deep into my soul, urging me to do the right thing, even though he can’t possibly know if I don’t.

Just tell him, I say to myself, taking a deep breath to bolster my wavering resolve.

“Well…?” he implores, his impatience testinghimas much as my abject fear is testingme.

I go to open my mouth, fully intending to tell him everything he doesn’t already know, except… “That’s it” comes out instead.

Brad’s nostrils flare and his eyes blacken, turning his features into somebody I don’t recognize.

“I gave you the chance to be honest.”

“I have been!” I exclaim. “There’s nothing more to tell!”

He glares at me as if I’m a stranger or, even worse, someone he’s grown to hate.

“So, can you please explain why the very sister who supposedly died twenty-five years ago has just been on the phone wanting a reunion?”

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