Page 12 of Taming Liberty

“Of course it does.” My mouth stays open while I search for words. “Lib…Youmatter to me. I’m a fucking asshole, I know. I’ve lied to you, and I’ve hurt you and I know nothing can change that. But Idocare about you.”

She laughs dryly. “You have a shitty way of showing it.”

Defensiveness flares, and a jolt of uncalled for anger shoots through me. “I’ve done everything I could for you since the day you got here. Sawyer wanted tokillyou, multiple times, and I prevented him. I killed the man who tried to rape you, for God’s sake.”

She spins toward me, jerking her legs onto the rock. “Youputme here. You took away my freedom. Everything that’s happened is your fault.”

My back teeth crash together. “Your husbandsoldyour freedom to my business partner. I had no part in that transaction.”

“But you didn’t stop it.”

“No, I didn’t. In fact, I encouraged it.”

The scowl melts off her face, and her doe-like eyes widen with hurt.

My shoulders slump, and I run my hand over my face. I’m fucking this up.Again.

“I wanted you,” I say, as if that somehow could soften the blow. “I’d wanted you for years, and then after talking to you, afterreallygetting to know you… An opportunity presented itself, and I made a very selfish choice. After everything your husband put you through, I did not think this life would be so ill-fitting.”

“Right.” Her lip trembles. “Because I was already a whore, huh? Why not be yours?”

I open my mouth but then close it. If I disputed her statement, I’d be lying. That’s where my mind was essentially at. If she could live that miserable life with him, surely, she could be happier with me.

“I thought I could make you happy,” I sigh. “Obviously, I was wrong.”

She lets out something between a laugh and a cry as she puts a hand to her forehead. “That’s the worst part.” She lowers her hand to look at me. “Youdidmake me happy. I thought I was falling in love with you, and it turns out I didn’t even know who you were. That fucking hurts, Angel. All you’ve ever done is lie to me.”

“I know,” I agree, my gaze dropping to the rock.

We let the silence take hold for a minute. To me, it feels like there’s nothing else to say. If there’s a way to repair all of this, I don’t have the words.

“Why did you ever reach out to me?” she eventually asks. “Was all of it…”

I look up at Lib and wait for her to finish.

“Was all of it just to fuck with me?”

“Of course not.” I pinch my eyes between my thumb and index finger. “It wasn’t like that at all.”

“Then what was it like?”

My head spins searching for the right words. I imagine her mind’s a jumbled mess, and all I’m doing is confusing her more.

I need to start at the beginning.

“The night we met, as stalkerish as it probably sounds, you left an impression on me. I liked you, I wanted you, and I have an issue with not getting what I want. It’s a trait that’s gotten me far in the business world but has hurt a hell of a lot of people along the way.”

SomethingI’m realizing more and more all the time.

“Over a year ago, right before we started talking, your husband asked if I knew a good private investigator. He thought you might be cheating on him.”

She opens her mouth, but I continue speaking before she can object. “You weren’t cheating, I know. Trust me, I know better than anyone now that you never would’ve cheated on that piece of shit, but still, he was possessive over you. I can’t blame him for that.”

I wave a hand. “Anyway, obviously I have a great PI, but because I was already curious about you, I told Robert I’d get in touch with my guy directly. I wanted to know what was up with you before Robert knew anything.”

“So, as I’m sure you can guess, my guy didn’t find much. You were followed for weeks, and the sketchiest thing my guy could find is you had an account on a site called LonelyTalk.com. He had access to everything on your computer, so he sent me your username and some transcripts of your messages with a couple of people. All harmless.”

Her eyes bore into me as she listens, imploring me to go on.

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