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No, I wanted to scream. I want the fairytale. I want to have faith that you’ll stand by me when you learn the truth of who I am and what I’ve done.

“It’s for the best.” A tear slipped down my cheek as my shoulders slumped.

“Tell me, Tara. Was it only the money that made you agree to marry me?”

I kept quiet and stared at the wall through a wet haze.

I turned to look at him over my shoulder. I opened my lips to respond, but he cut me off.

“Don’t. Your initial silence tells me all I wanted to know.” His eyes filled with such pain and resignation. “You want to know something?” He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t need you to win the election. I never did. I wanted to marry you because you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. The only woman I will ever love. You were right. You were more a liability than an asset, but I didn’t give a damn. You were always it for me. I just wish I was it for you.”

Ashur stood from the bed, shrugged on his robe, and walked toward the door that connected to the sitting room.

As he yanked the door open, he said over his shoulder, “You want a contract marriage, I’ll give you a contract marriage. We’ll fuck without emotion, have children, and live separate lives outside the bedroom.”

I stood in a numb haze… I’d distorted everything we’d built over the last two years. I’d destroyed the one thing that meant more to me than anything by keeping my secrets, by refusing to acknowledge how much he meant to me.

He was such a man of pride. Emotions weren’t part of his DNA but with me he showed a side no one would believe existed.

God, what had I done?

I slowly dropped onto the bed and curled into a ball and let my stupidity and tears engulf me.