(20
When I looked into his eyes–no longer veiled, no longer pretending–I couldn’t stop through my chest
For a brief second, panic flickered across Zane’s face.
“No, Liv, let me explain-”
“No,” he said, his voice low and urgent. “Liv, please, let me explain.”
the ache that spread
“Explain what? That you’re only using Liv to humiliate the Montclairs?”
“Just admit it, Zane,” he
Cassian’s voice cut through the air like a blade, his words dripping with venom continued, stepping closer. “You could’ve picked anyone for this marriage arrangement, but you chose her. Why?”
His eyes flicked toward me, filled with something twisted and possessive
“Because she’s the Montclairs” adopted daughter,” he sneered “That’s what this has been about all along, hasn’t
it? A rivalry. You didn’t really want her. You just wanted to make a statement”
I could hear my own heartbeat hammering in my ears
Cassian turned to me then, but his words were still aimed at Zane
“You do know that before you married her, she was already in my bed, don’t you?” His smirk deepened.
“Let me guess-“he tilted his head mockingly. “You haven’t even touched her, have you? How does it feel, knowing your wife used to beg for me?”
“Shut the hell up!”
Zane lunged before I could react.
His fist connected with Cassian’s jaw with a sickening crack, sending him sprawling to the floor. I barely heard the gasps around us. The moment Cassian opened his mouth, Zane was on him again, fists flying. For once, I care to stop him.But I couldn’t stand here.
Not with everyone watching. Not with the weight of humiliation pressing down on me, suffocating me. Whispers rippled through the room, each one cutting like a blade.
I couldn’t breathe.
I turned and ran.
Cassian had dragged my past out into the open, exposing every raw, humiliating truth I had spent years trying to
bur!
I turned and ran.
I didn’t know where I was going–I just needed to get out.
The night air was cold, damp with the mist rolling off Langston Hill’s skyline, but I barely felt it as I wandered aimlessly through the streets.
My mind wouldn’t stop racing. I had no idea where I stood in Zane’s life anymore. Cassian claimed that Zane only married me to humiliate the Montclair Family
I didn’t believe it. I had never doubted Zane’s character. But what I did question was whether his distance these past few weeks had anything to do with someone else–or if it was just me. If it was the former….
I could force myself to go back to how things were when I first arrived–fulfilling my role as his wife in name only. But the Kensingtons had given me a sense of belonging, a warmth I had never known before. For the first time in my life, I felt like I mattered.
And after what Cassian did to me tonight
I wanted someone who would choose me. As what I am and not a stand in.
I had never dared to dream of a fairytale. Because I knew that before Cinderella’s fall, she had been a noblewoman, And I… I was nothing more than a child who had crawled out of the mud. No matter how much Mrs. Montclair had taught me, no matter how many lessons I mastered, I could never erase the deep–rooted inferiority in my bones.
I knew I wasn’t good enough for Zane. But knowing and wanting were two different things. Pathetically, selfishly -I still longed for him.
These past few months, Zane and the Kensingtons had given me a love so overwhelming that I had started to believe. I had begun to heal from the wounds of betrayal and abandonment.
But Cassian’s arrival had ripped me right back into the filth, exposing my ugliest truths for Zane to see.
Shame and self–loathing warred within me, suffocating me with every breath.
I didn’t know how to face him anymore.
I was so pathetic. So ridiculous
Standing on the pedestrian bridge, I gazed down at the endless stream of cars below, my mind spinning. After at long, shaky breath, I pulled out my phone and dialed Zane’s number.
“Zane,” I said quietly. “Let’s get a divorce.”
There was a brief silence.
