HAPTER 64

KILLIAN’S POV

The first thing that I heard when I woke up was a soft, broken, painful sniffing that twisted something in my chest the second I heard it. My brows furrowed as I forced myself awake, my arm reaching out instinctivelyb, /bonly to feel the bed empty

beside me. My eyes flew open, and then when I turned, I saw her.

bMy /bLiana.

Curled up with her back to me, shaking, her fingers pressed against her face like she was trying to muffle the sound of her

cries.

“Liana,” bI /bwhispered, moving closer, reaching out to touch her arm gently, but the second my hand brushed her skin, she jerked away from me like I burned her.

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, voice rawb, /beyes red as she scrambled off the bed, dragging the nket over her naked body. Her voice cracked so hard, it sounded like it hurt. b“/bLeave me alone, Killian! Get the hell away from me!”

She ran into the bathroom before I could even process what the fuck was happening. My brain was still in pieces, still half- asleep, my chest pounding like a drum as I rushed after her.

“Liana, baby, what happened? What’s going on?” I banged on the door, hearing her sob on the other side.

“Go to hell, Killian! Just leave me the fuck alone!”

I dragged both hands through my hairb, /bpanicking now, because I didn’t understand. What did I dob? /bWhy bwas /bshe crying like

that?

“Talk to me, baby, please. Please, Liana. You’re scaring me. What happened? What did I dob?/bb” /bI beggedb, /bpressing my forehead against the door. bMy /bvoice bwas /blow, desperate. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t fix something if I didn’t beven /bbknow /b

what the bfuck /bI’d done.

b“/bbYou’re /ba liar! a fucking liarb, /bKillian! That’s bwhat /byou did! You used me! bYou /blied bto /bme again and again and I was stupid enough to believe byou/b!”

I stepped back a littleb, /bstunned. The pain in her bvoice/b… it bwas /breal. It was deep. and I didn’t even understand where iting bfrom/b.

“Lianab, /bbI /bswearb, /bbI /bbdon’t /bknow what you’re talking about. bJuste /bbout /bband /bexin to meb, /bbokay/bb?/bb” /b

bwas /b

“bExin /bwhatb?/bb” /bshe shot bback/bb, /bvoice shaking with so much pain that I felt it under my skin. “How byou’ve /bbeen ying me this whole time? How byou /bsaid I was special and then turned around and slept with some other girl right bhere/bb, /bin this bexact /bsame bfucking /broomb?/b*

bMy blood /bbran /bcold.

bWhat/bb? /b

I looked baround /bbwildly/b. bMy /bbeyes /b/divnded on bmy /bphoneb, /blying on her side of the bbed/b.

bFuck/b.

I grabbed bit/bb, /bbmy /bheart hammering in bmy /bchestb, /band bopened /bthe screen.

First message I saw was from an unsaved number, ba /bgirl. a photo. a message.

“Thanks for the other night, love. Your handsb, /bbyour /bmouth, byour /bcock… bGod/bb, /bI still bcan’t /bstop thinking about it. bYou’re /bbalways /bso fucking good to me. bI /bblove /byoub, /bdarling. Can’t wait bfor /banother night bjust /blike bthat/bb./bb” /b

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64

I cursed. Loudly.

“Fuck! Fuckb!/bb” /bbI /bran my hand through my hair, pacing. That girl. That fucking girl who brought me to my room when I was too drunk to see straight. This was the same girl. I never touched her. I’d sent her out of my room. But this… this message… that

photo…

It looked so fucking real.

I felt like throwing the phone across the room. But it was toote. Liana had already seen it.

“Liana, baby, please! It’s not what you think,l’s lying. It’s fake. I didn’t touch her. I swear on my fucking life, I didn’t touch her! You have to believe me. Please, baby…”

”

b“/bYou think I’m stupid?” she cried from inside the bathroom. “You think I don’t recognize this room? You think I wouldn’t know this bed? She sent a picture, Killian. You were on that bed. The same bed you just fucked me on. God, I feel so disgusting.”

“It was a setup! I didn’t sleep with her! You have to believe me! Please, just open the door and let me exin properly. You

have to believe me. I swear.”

“Believe you?!!” she yelled. “Believe you like I did when you said Cynthia meant nothing? Believe you when you said you

loved me? I know your n, Killian. I know everything now. You’ll use me, break me, and then go back to her because she’s

right for you. Because I’m just the weak, useless girl who ruins everything. That’s what it’s always been. They told me,

Killian. Everyone fucking told me you’d never choose me. That you’d always go back to her.”

I froze.

My mouth opened to ask her what the hell she was talking about when another ding came from the phone.

A message from Logan.

I opened it.

And then I saw the one from earlier. The one from this morning.

The one she must have seen before she ever picked up that second message.

It felt as if a bucket of bice /bwater was thrown on me.

“Goddammit, Logan! bYou /bfucking idiot!”

Of course she saw it.

She saw everything.

She saw that messageb. /b

She saw the photo.

She thought I was going to leave her. She thought I was going to throw her away like nothing. And honestlyb, /bafter the shit she’s been through, after the way I’ve handled everything so fucking poorly, I couldn’t even me her.

I pressed bmy /bforehead against the bathroom door, closing my eyes as my voice broke. “Liana. Baby. I know you hate me right now I know how bad this looks. But I need you to know something. I didn’t cheat on byou/b. I didn’t touch her. That picture

It’s a fucking setup Logan’s message, I didn’t see it until now. and I don’t agree with a damn word bof /bit. I would bnever/bb, /bbever /bchoose Cynthia over youb. /bNever. You’re not a weakness, Lianab. /bYou’re everything. You’re all I fucking want.”

b“/bbJust /bgo, Killian ”

Her voice sounded emptyb. /b

Like I had already lost her

64

I stood thereb, /bfrozen.

I didn’t even know what to say anymore. I felt like a man who had just destroyed the only thing that ever mattered to him.

And I didn’t even know how to make it right.