Page 50 of One Twisted Lie

“I don’t fucking care! It doesn’t change anything! You’re a liar!”

He says this through shed tears, heading toward the door with a purpose, but I can’t let him leave. I’m still naked, but I throw myself in front of him and the door. I won’t let him go, not until he forgives me. Hehasto forgive me. He’s too smart to think that I wanted any of this.

“Please, don’t leave me,” I beg, reaching up to palm his cheeks. “Carter, babe, don’t do this. We can move past this. I’m sorry.”

He drops his head and clenches his fists at his side. His chest is heaving up and down, he’s pissed. He looks up at me, nothing but that cold apathetic gaze I thought we moved past. “You’ve given me no choice. We’re here because of your fucked up decisions. I’m just respecting myself enough to walk the fuck away from a liar.”

“I love you,” I cry. I’m crying, openly now. I’m opening myself up to him. I’m showing him I’m all in. “I’m so sorry. Carter, I love you.”

He takes a step back and places his hands on my shoulders. I think he’s going to hug me, comfort me, take what I’m offering him, and move past this.

“If you cared, you wouldn’t have fucking done it. Fuck you, Ozymandias. We’re done.”

He shoves me down on the ground violently, stepping over me as he marches out of my room, nearly slamming the door on my foot. He leaves me on the floor, crying, broken, feeling like an idiot for ever thinking this would be okay.

He leaves me, a shell of myself, sitting in nothing but my own shame.

Without him.

Chapter 25

Carter

It’s been a week and I’m still fucking crying.Me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an emotionally stunted man-child like some of my other friends. I can cry. Avery even told me the other day it’s hot as fuck to get in touch with your emotions, whatever that means. It’swhoI’m crying about that’s driving me crazy.

Ozymandias Rupert Clark.

He’s fucked me up. I made the right decision walking away from him, but he’s still all I think about. I love the man. I love him more than I ever thought I could love someone. It happened so slowly, so unexpectedly, but it left with a bang.

Well, that’s not true. I still love him. I’d still do anything for him, but I can’t take him back, not after what he did. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t going to go through with his father’s plan, it’s that heliedto me. Everything we had was built on a lie, and that’s the heartbreaking part.

Would we have fallen in love were it not for this father?

I cry over my computer, angrily typing a line of code for the third time that I’ve messed up twice already. I wipe my tears away. This work is so important, important enough to break my heart over, and fuck me if I don’t finish it.

After a few more angry clicks and a shit ton of tissues, a blinking red text box comes up and I nearly spill the energy drink in my hand.

Holy fuck.

Holy fucking fuck. I did it. It works.

But, shit, it doesn’t feel as good as it should. It doesn’t because my first instinct is to run into Ozymandias’s arms and tell him. I know exactly how he’d react. He’d call me a dumbass for even thinking I couldn’t do it. He’d listen in confusion as I explained what it did. In the end, he’d bring me into his arms and tell me how proud he is of me.

But it’s just me. Just me, in my dorm, tired as fuck with red eyes, an empty stomach, and hopped up on caffeine.

Alone.

I reach for my phone numbly, like a robot. Like it’s in some fucked up programming of mine. The line rings but only for a second. “Father. It’s done.”

“Thank fuck.”

Straight to the point. No mention of how I’m doing, how proud he is of me, no thanks for all the hard work I’ve put in, on the sacrifices I had to make on my social life and my mental health.

I unplug the flash drive from the computer, twirling it around in my fingers, wondering how far my father will go to get this. I’ve always had questions, questions that he’s never answered before. I have my curiosities, but they’ve been squashed by the idea that my trust fund could be in play. Now, I have something to hold over his head, something he desperately wants.

“I’m only going to give it to you under one condition.”

I hear him take a stuttering breath, rushing through his words.“What? Anything, Carter. You can have anything.”

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