Page 200 of Sinful Desires
But I couldn’t stop it.
I saw it all unfolding, timelines dissected, paparazzi digging deeper, threads connecting dots that were never meant to be public.
Matthew. His name. His face. His life.
I hadn’t just destroyed myself.
I had detonated Nicholas’s entire world. His relationship. His career. His future. The thing he’d guarded with every ounce of quiet strength while standing beside me through every storm.
And I had pulled him straight into the fire.
All for what? For stolen moments in the dark with a man I couldn’t stay away from?
I had been so fucking selfish. So wrapped in love, that I hadn’t stopped to think about what this would cost.
Now the price was too high. And I couldn’t undo it.
My phone rang. All of us stared.
I grabbed it quickly, fingers trembling, and silenced the sound.
Then Victoria’s phone lit up.
Her face went pale as she turned the screen toward me.
“It’s your dad?…”
I broke.
“I never m-meant for anything to happen,” I choked out, crying harder. “I just?…?I don’t know. H-he saved me, guys. More than once. And he’s been s-so?…?he’s been so good to me.”
My whole body shook with that kind of fear that starts in your stomach and claws up your throat.
“It’s the first time in my life I’ve felt alive.Reallyalive. Happy. And now my father is going to kill me for it, for not listening to him.”
What if he sends me away again?…?but this time it’s forever?
Last time I’d really disobeyed him, he’d taken my passport, smashed my phone, punched me so hard my nose bled, and left me locked in rehab for a whole year.
This time, he wouldn’t just punish me.
He’d bury me for good.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t slow anything down.
“I’m in love. For the first time in my fucking life, I’m in love. And I c-couldn’t even say it out loud or be happy about it. I had to hide it, bury it, and now I have to worry about the entire world judging it, tearing it apart, trying to hurt him?…”
My chest ached from how hard I was crying.
“They have no idea what he’s d-done for me. What he means to me.”
Victoria and Nicholas stared at me like I’d grown a second head.
I frowned, lips shaking. “What?”
“Scarlett—”
“I fucking knew it,” Nicholas cut in, way too loudly, laughing as he stood and threw his arms up in the air. “I fucking knew you were in love.”
