Page 149 of Betrayal (Corrupt Empire 1)

“I don’t want to do this, but I have to, Aiden. I can’t do what you want me to. It’s better this way.”

I stared at her. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face still wet with tears.

“How is it better, Avery? How is us being apart better?”

“It’s better for me because you can’t hurt me if I’m not with you.”

As if her words couldn’t fucking kill me any further, those just about tore my fucking heart to pieces. The stupid fucking useless piece of shit organ I wanted to forget. But she’d made me remember. She’d made me feel and now those feelings threatened to destroy me entirely.

I got up off the floor and strode over to her, taking her face in my hands.

“Don’t leave me. You promised.”

“You’ve made me break it, Aiden. This isn’t my fault. It’s yours. You broke us.”

“Let me fix it.”

“You can’t. You can’t just kiss me and fuck me and expect it go away. It doesn’t work like that. You’ve never let me in. That’s the problem. You expect me to just obey you and do everything you want. I can’t do what you’re asking. You have to find another way. But I know you won’t. You’re leaving me with no choice. I have to go because if I don’t, then you’ll destroy this entirely. You’ll ruin me.”

She took my hands from her face and placed them by my sides. Rising up on her tiptoes, she kissed me. She was fucking leaving me on Christmas Day. The one fucking day I promised myself I’d give her without there being any shit between us.

I’d broken everything.

She was right.

I broke us.

And I really fucking died inside.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and brought her lips to my ear.

“I’m sorry. Please believe me when I tell you I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to leave you. The stupid fucked up part about all of this is I thought I’d found the one person in this world who made me feel complete. I thought we’d get through everything. I believed in you. I trusted you. And the stupid girl I am fell in love with you. I love you. I love you so much it hurts.”

She let go, not meeting my eyes.

“Goodbye, Aiden.”

And then she fucking walked away. My heart fractured entirely. She loved me. Avery loved me. I couldn’t comprehend it. Why the hell would a girl like her fall in love with a man like me?

I wanted to chase after her, but my feet stayed stuck to the floor.

She opened the front door of my flat and walked out, not looking back at me.

And I fucking let her go.

This hurt worse than anything I’d ever experienced before. Not even that fateful day my whole world fell apart compared. I thought it was my worst fucking memory. I was wrong. So fucking wrong.

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“Mummy? Wake up, Mummy.”

I shook her. Her eyes were glazed over. Blood poured out of her neck sluggishly.

“Please, please wake up.”

Blood everywhere. Covering her clothes and seeping into the rug. Blood that now coated my hands. I lay my head on her chest, holding her in my small arms.

“I love you. I love you. Please don’t leave me, Mummy, please.”

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