Page 44 of Billionaire's Sins
"Is that how you got the scar?"
I stiffen, then turn to glare at her, "Is that what you heard?"
"It's what I guessed." She raises a shoulder. "The women have mentioned the incident, but they never go into it in detail."
"Trust me, it's best that way." I set my jaw. "Suffice to say that what the kidnappers did to each of us..." I fold my fingers into fists at my side. "It changed our lives forever. It changed who we were. Changed our futures, changed how we perceived ourselves. It set us apart from the rest of the boys our age then and ensured that no matter how far we ran or how much we grew up, the specter of what happened to us would never be too far off from our minds."
"Why…why are you telling me this?" She twists her fingers together in front of her.
"I am not sure." I stare down into her face. It’s the truth. Maybe I started out because I want her to understand the reasons behind what I am about to do? Maybe I am trying to make excuses for myself? Maybe… I am trying to lessen the coming blow. Maybe… I am just a bastard who is selfish enough to set aside the one good thing that has crossed his path in all these years by hurting her. But it’s for her own good. It is. No good will come of this, not when there is no future for either of us. Not when she could do much better than me. My nerve endings jangle and I ignore it. There is someone out there who can give her everything I can’t. I am doing this for her own good. I am. I lock my elbows at my sides, take a step back from her.
"This, whatever it is between us, ends here, Ava."
"What?" She blinks. "What are you saying?"
"I can’t see you again. You understand that, right?"
"But," she gapes…"I thought now that you’d—"
"Come in your mouth, everything would turn out right?"
She pales. "Why are you doing this?"
"What?’
"Trying to make me hate you?"
Because it’s the only way I can rectify what I’ve done to you, by ensuring that you hate me enough to never look at me again.
"Clearly, I am not trying hard enough, if you are still here talking to me." I roll my shoulders.
"You don’t fool me." She rises to her feet. "You’re doing this because you think it will drive me away from you. You’re wrong about it, though."
"Oh?"
"I understand what it means to have found your calling, only to question your beliefs related to it."
"Do you now?"
She nods. "When I told my parents that I wanted to be a dancer, they flipped out. They thought I was joking, that it was a temporary passion, that I’d come to my senses and move beyond it, that it was just a hobby that I was taking too seriously, that I’d outgrow it. They tried everything to stop me from dropping out of university to pursue it."
"Did they succeed?"
"What do you think?" Her lips quirk.
"I think you are perceptive and strong and persistent. That despite your fragile appearance you have a backbone of steel."
She tilts her head, "You’ve given it some thought, then?"
I’ve given you a lot of thought.
"Once you set your mind on something, you don’t give up." My heart begins to thud. I hear my words and I know it’s a sign, that she can be stubborn and persistent and focused on what she wants. All the more reason it’s important that she not waste her talents on me. "Which is why you’ll understand what I am going to say next."
"What?" she whispers. "What is it?"
"I cannot give up my faith for you, Ava."
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