him.
My son didn’t even realize it, but he was exactly like me.
“I was going to leave him,” she blurted out of nowhere. She grabbed her shirt and lifted it up to her cheek, wiping away the makeup.
It was only then that I noticed what she was hiding underneath it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“Heroes are imaginary, but villains are real.” —Best villain quotes
Romeo
With the backs of my fingers, I skimmed the nasty bruise that was healing on her cheekbone.
“The last time I saw Tristian, he hit me. I followed him to his office that morning, and I saw him with that woman… with Ivan’s wife, I guess. He looked so happy. I don’t think I remember the last time he looked at me the way he was looking at her. It hurt. A lot.” She bowed her head; however, I held up her chin. Making her gaze at me.
“No more shame between us.”
She thought about it for a second. “I decided that day I was going to leave him. That I couldn’t stay with him just because I didn’t want to break up Naz’s family. This last week has opened my eyes to so much I didn’t see. Naz knew what his father had turned into, and it makes me feel like a horrible mother. How could I not protect our boy?”
“Loyalty is a powerful emotion, Red.”
“I was so blinded by my anger with Tristian blowing me off once I confronted him. He didn’t care about what I saw, what I felt; I didn’t know the man that was screaming at me. And I hadn’t for the last year.”
“What happened that night you went to your father’s house?”
Her eyes went wide again, almost like she was reliving it all over again. “He was drunk. He was upset I had dumped out all his liquor. Before I knew what was happening, there was a gun in his hand and over my heart.”
My head jerked back. If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him. Part of me wanted to bring him back to life just to kill him again.
“Eden, you should have told me.”
“I thought I was doing the right thing. I’d betrayed him, and I thought I deserved it. I wanted to tell you about Naz. I swear it. I was going to tell you after I left Tristian, but you ended up taking care of it. When I told him the truth about Naz, he lost it and attacked me. He left me on the floor in this office, beaten, scared… I never imagined that he wouldn’t ever come home again.”
“This was never his home. You were never his home. Neither was our son.”
“Our son. You say that so easily? You’re not upset with me?”
I shook my head. “No. I could have said something to you, but I once again chose my brother as the better man for you. I was wrong. If I could go back to that night I claimed you, I would have never left you. Please tell me you know that?”
“I do now.”
“From the first time I laid my eyes on our son, I knew he was mine. The way he looked at me, the way he smiled. The dimple. I expected Tristian to confront me about it, but he never did.” I cupped her face with my hands. “This life, it takes pieces of your soul away, and if you’re not careful, you turn into someone you don’t recognize anymore. Tristian wasn’t meant for this life, and as much as I’m loathe to admit it, that’s the reason I thought he was better. I imagined myself coming home to you only to have you resent everything I did and all the reasons I did it.”
She glared at me through her tears. “That wasn’t your call to make.”
God, she was pretty. “I know that now.”
“I still hate you.” Her words held no punch. If anything, I almost took it as a compliment and, for some reason, found myself smiling as she locked eyes with me.
“I know.”
“And I may have prayed your perfect hair would fall out or that you’d age horribly so that when I saw you again, my heart wouldn’t skip in my chest, but I think even if all those things had happened, I would have still been drawn to you when I knew I shouldn’t have been.”
I tilted her chin toward me, joking, “I hate you too.” Trying to lighten up the mood.
It was heavy.
I didn’t want to see her tears any longer.
Be the reason she was