Page 114 of Forbidden Fruit
He hesitates, shame creeping into his expression.
“She wanted me to play the perfect, adoring fiancé in front of your family. And more than anything, she wanted me to stay away from you.”
My chest tightens. Every word feels like a blade.
“But then I met you,” he says. “And everything changed.”
I force a bitter laugh, and it shatters in the air. “So, did you get to fulfill your dream? Was it worth it?”
“No,” he says. Just one word, and I can see the disappointment in his eyes, because I know what it cost him, what it meant to build that skyscraper. I know it was a promise to his father; one he’s clung to since the day he died. And somehow, knowing that just makes the pain heavier.
“Before I came here,” he continues, “I told Jameson—you remember him, from the masquerade ball? He owns the land I needed to build the skyscraper—I told him the truth. I told him the engagement was fake. And that I am in love with my fake fiancée’s sister. And that no skyscraper, no deal, no empire will ever matter more than you.”
Hearing him confess his love so easily, it wrecks me.
It makes my heart stutter, makes my breath catch like it wants to believe him, like some feral, broken part of me still aches to be his. But it’s too late. God, it’s too late.
I would’ve given anything to hear him say these words on the night of the masquerade when I was pressed up against a cold marble wall with his cum dripping down my thighs and my heart breaking in real time. When I was practically begging him to choose me, and all I got in return was silence and bruises I wore like couture pearls.
If he had said it then… maybe I would’ve believed it.
I sigh, the sound pulling from somewhere deep in mychest. Wordlessly, I place the NDA beside me on the coffee table like it’s poisoned, because it is.
I look at him, and the way he’s watching me, like he’s afraid to breathe, afraid one wrong move might shatter whatever fragile thread is left between us, only makes it worse.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, threadbare. “I’m sorry you lost the deal. That you couldn’t fulfill your dream. I know what it meant to you, Calvin. I know. And believe me, I take no pleasure in that.”
I pause, swallowing the lump in my throat that tastes like ashes.
“But I can’t do this again, Calvin. It nearly killed me.”
His steps falter, but his voice is fierce when he speaks again. “I’ll do better by you. I swear it, Blair. Just… please, give me another chance. One chance to prove that you’re everything to me.”
I shake my head, the weight of everything too much to bear. “I can’t trust you.”
Heavy, suffocating silence falls between us. His shuddering breath like a plea in the air, and for the first time, I see the depth of his regret. The weight of my words crushes him, and still, he doesn’t move away.
“Do you not believe me when I say I love you?”
I turn my face away, unable to meet the honesty in his eyes, because if I do, I might never be able to walk away. He is closer now, too close. His hand brushes the air as though he wants to reach for me but is too afraid of rejection.
“Blair,” he says, “I have never met anyone like you. Never met someone who is as messy and chaotic and utterly perfect in her imperfection. Someone who makes me laugh and makes me lose my mind all in the same breath. I love you for that. No, I love youbecauseof that. I love you with everything I am. With everything I have.” He pauses,breathing faster, like the next words are too heavy to say, but he forces them out anyway. “Unless… Unless you don’t love me. Unless you can’t see yourself ever loving me, even just a little bit.”
I don’t even try to stop the tears anymore. They fall freely, hot and fast, until I feel like they’ll drown me. I look at him, really look at him, and everything inside me shatters. The truth is undeniable. I haven’t stopped loving him for a single second.
“Loving you isn’t the problem, Calvin,” I whisper, my voice splintering. “That part was easy. Loving you was always easy. But…”
My throat tightens. “The relationship we had, if you can even call it that, was built on shadows, lies, and shame. And you can’t build love on that.”
I sniff, the next words burning like acid as I force them out. “You lied to me. Worse, youandshe lied to me.”
His face pales. “Blair…”
“Do you know,” I continue, ignoring his trembling voice, “that Abigail told me she was pregnant?”
His eyebrows shoot up in shock. “She what?”
“Yeah.” My laugh is bitter, empty. “Do you know what it felt like to hear that? To realize I wasn’t just the girl screwing her sister’s fiancé, I was potentially the storm that tore through an unborn child’s home before it was ever even built?”
