Page 15 of Shattered Sinner
"I swear I didn’t send those photos to your father.”
"Then how did he get them?”
Easton didn’t respond this time. Instead, he studied me, and I wished I could peer inside of his mind to catch a glimpse of what he was thinking.
“Fucking answer me!” I screamed.
But of course, he didn’t. Deep down, I wanted to believe him, but I knew that would be foolish.
"Since you won’t answer that, tell me why you came here tonight," I said, all the while hating myself for wanting to know.
"Because I couldn't stay away."
Easton’s words slashed through me like a sword. I was surprised that he admitted it. “Even though you’d just heard I was engaged?”
"Especially because you're engaged," he said, his voice rough with emotion. "Nash’s words cut through me as if they were a sword, and I know this is not what you really want.”
“You don’t know anything about me at this point.”
“I know that you want to explore what you and I shared. You want to see where it goes. We can find a way to make it so that you won’t have to marry Tristan.”
A small light appeared at the end of the proverbial tunnel, but I knew it was too good to be true. This was all too much, and I was still pissed at him. Hell, I’d just slapped him one a few minutes ago.
"Easton, I can't do this," I whispered as I shook my head. “None of this is okay.”
"What isn’t okay about any of this?” He walked toward me until his face was only inches from mine once more. “We both know that you don’t want to be engaged to Tristan.”
“I don’t want this,” I mumbled to myself, or so I thought.
“What do you want?”
I bit the corner of my lip and looked him in the eye before I said, "I want you to leave.”
"Is that what you really want?" he asked, his voice lowering to meet the same tone as mine.
"Yes," I said, my hands shaking. “I don’t want to make a big show of it and have to call security or the police.”
He shrugged in return. “Fine then. Goodbye, Bianca," he said, before slamming the door behind him.
I stood there for what felt like an eternity, staring at the closed door as I heard his heavy footsteps echo down the hallway until they faded away. I swallowed hard and walked back over to my couch with my bottom lip quivering. In the next second, I’d collapsed on the cushions. I took in several deep breaths to try to calm myself down, but I couldn’t. The weight from everything was too much, and although I was caught off guard by this whole experience, I thought I held myself together well.
Plus, my first reaction hadn’t been to grab a glass of wine, and for that I needed to count it as a win.
But that didn’t remove the weight I felt pressing down on me over all this. When I tried to make the right move and do the right thing when it came to this or Iris’s disappearance, it felt as if I was taking one step forward and two steps back. The hold this had on me was almost suffocating.
Closing my eyes, I slammed the door on the world around me and leaned my head back against the couch in order to allow my brain to just wander. That seemed to be the only thing that eased the tension I was feeling if I wasn’t going to take a shot.
I opened my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to clear my thoughts. My heart was heavy with regret, but I’d been left with no other choice.
After getting antsy, I stood up from the couch and walked over to the window and took my time looking out at the twinkling lights of Brentson. There was so much beauty here, but also so much hate. And now I felt as if it was only a matter of time before all the hatred on the outside would be turned on me.
“Stop,” I said to myself. “You are doing what you need to do."
But the pressure was still there.
I shook my head as I tried to shake the negative vibes that had entered. I needed to focus on how I was going to find Iris and get out of this engagement. Then I could figure out how I could make my life better.
However, deep down, I already knew I had the starting blocks for what would eventually bring peace to my life.
