Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“It isn’t enough. Love isn’t enough.”
“It is for him. I know what it’s like to love someone so much it hurts. What it is like to be afraid. But you don’t need to worry about that with Grayson. He isn’t some random guy. He’s the man who will do anything for you.” My heart breaks more with each word I speak, but I persist, determined to make things right. “He’s the man who’s been living in hell since you vanished. No one has been able to steal the light from you. You fill his every waking moment.”
Her voice cracks as a tear topples down her cheek. “Still? Even after all this time?”
I nod, fighting back my own tears.
After returning to the living room, Cameron collapses on the couch before cradling her head in her hands. For several long seconds, she doesn’t talk.
I sit beside her, silent, letting her gather herself.
I may also need a moment to find my bearings.
Several cracks splinter my heart when she looks up and whispers, “I wasn’t abducted.”
I freeze, certain I misheard her. Grayson’s recollection of the events paints the scene in horrifying detail. Someone kidnapped her, and her boyfriend, who fought like hell to protect her, was the only witness.
I’ve barely gotten over my first lot of shock when she slaps me again. “Grayson’s father forced me out of his life.”
“What?” Gone is the confident agent I’ve grown to become, replaced with a woman who struggles to string two words together. “No. That can’t be right. Director Rogers would never…” My words trail off when I recall the document Markwell shared with me earlier. It explicitly verifies how far Director Rogers will go for his children. He would go to the end of the world for them. “Why?”
The shock on my face jumps onto Cameron’s. She’s stunned I believe her. I’m just as perplexed. Something about her aura rubs me the wrong way, but I want to ensure I’m not judging her under an unfavorable light because I’m in love with her man.
“His family are law enforcement. It’s in their blood. Mine… mine are criminals. His father was worried I was leading Grayson down the wrong path, that he would end up in juvie if he didn’t step in. Or worse, jail.” She maintains eye contact as she steals the land beneath my feet. “His father threatened to take down my family. The charges were long and mostly fabricated, but they rattled my father. He would never allow a puppy-love infatuation to ruin everything he had worked for, so he sacrificed me instead.” She wets her lips before her eyes lower to her hand knotted in her sleepwear. “I was told to never come back, and to never look for Grayson, or I’d serve a long sentence for something I didn’t do.” Her fingers are almost blue when she unravels them from the twisted mess. “That’s why I can’t tell Grayson the truth. It is best this way.”
“No.” I refuse to even consider taking the easy way out. “Grayson would never allow you to take the fall for something you didn’t do. He loves you, and that comes with an automatic inclusion of protection.”
She laughs, the vibrations on my chest bitter and broken. “Love doesn’t matter when you’re up against the law. His father made it clear. If I ever came back, my family would pay—”
“So you’d rather lump the burden solely on Grayson’s shoulders?” I struggle with the urge to force her to understand the suffering she caused him, yet when I see the pain and guilt reflected in her eyes, it holds me back.
After a lengthy bout of silence, I murmur, “You don’t have to be with him. You just need to tell him the truth.”
Her hair slaps her red cheeks when she shakes her head. “I can’t. I won’t.”
She leaves the room, and my hands ball into fists. Guilt doesn’t weigh down her steps as it does mine and Grayson’s. She’s free, but we’re far from achieving the same level of freedom.
“Did you ever love him? Have you ever considered what this did to him?”
She whips back around and pins me in place with a rueful glare. “Of course I love him. It’s Grayson! He’s impossible not to love.” She stares at me like a priest preaching to his flock. “But I love my family more.”
While I appreciate her perspective, I am unable to make the same commitment. I love Kendall, and I will never stop looking for her, but I can’t sit by and watch Grayson’s heart break over and over again. That is above my caliber, and it leaves me with only one choice.
“Either you tell him the truth, Cameron, or I will.”
Cameron screws up her face, etching fear into every faint line. “If that is what you believe is best, you can do that. But I will deny every word we shared until I am blue in the face if he seeks confirmation of your accusation.”