Page 93 of My Sweetest Obsession
She tilted her head, challenging me with her gaze. “How am I wrong?”
I swallowed hard. “I didn’t know who to trust.”
“You should’ve trusted me!” she screamed. “Trusted us!”
“Yeah, and look how well that turned out for me when my ex fucking betrayed me!” I roared back.
“I’m not your ex! And this was totally different. I just discovered who I was and wanted to share that with you. But you wouldn’t give me the time of day. How can you expect me to trust you again?”
Shame hit me repeatedly like a punching bag.I reached for her hand, but she recoiled.
“Don’t,” she snapped.
I ground my molars, holding back the urge to handcuff her to my wrist. “I know you’re not my ex. But trust doesn’t come easily for me, baby. After falling in love with you, I thought it was too good to be true. I wasn’t andstillam not worthy of your love. But I’m a selfish bastard, and I’m not giving you up.”
Gigi shook her head. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”
“I won’t ever treat you like that again. You have my word.”
“Your word means nothing to me. Because that’s all they are with you. Words.”
“You’re right.”
Her eyebrows shot up.
I smiled genuinely for the first time since she’d been gone. “I know I have a lot to work on, and I promise I will not fail you again.Ever.Gigi, my soul died the moment you were taken from me.”
Her eyes softened slightly, but the anger lingered there, like the calm before a storm ready to unleash its fury. “You think your sorry and promises are going to be enough?”
“No,” I said. “I just want a second chance to make it right. To show you that you can trust me again.”
Gigi looked away again. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. The pain, the agony, the loss I felt.” Her hand went to her flat stomach, and rage took over me. At one point, we were going to have that conversation.
“I know what was done to you,” I said, my voice low and strained. “He sent me videos of what they did.”
She turned back to me with tears clouding her eyes. “Wh-what?”
I slid back in my chair, hands clasped between my legs, staring at the floor. “I saw what he did to you.” I rubbed my palms together until they formed into tight fists. “I heard your cries, Gigi. I watched it happen, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.”
She softly sniffled, but I couldn’t look up. The shame was too heavy, a burden I had to carry for allowing this to happen. The guilt had been eating me alive from the moment I knew she was missing.
“I’m not telling you this to excuse what happened to you,” I continued, “but I need you to know I suffered along with you. The pain I felt was real. My love for you is real.”
“You think you can fix this?”
I glanced up to meet her gaze, and the rawness in her eyes nearly shattered me. “I have to try,” I said quietly. “You gave me a reason to live. To fight. And I’ll be damned if I ever give that up. My soul doesn’t know how to live without yours.”
She sighed, the anger slowly dissipating, but the hurt still shone in her eyes. “I’m not ready to forgive you yet.”
“I know, and I don’t expect you to. But I’m willing to do whatever it takes until you do.”
“And what if I don’t want to make this work? What if I want to walk away from all this this…from you,” she said, waving her hand in the air. “
The fuck?
“You would walk away from me?”
She lowered her head.I rose to my feet and roughly gripped her chin, forcing her to face me. “The only way you’re allowed to leave my ass is when I’m cold, dead, and buried six feet in the ground.”
