Page 112

but when it came right down to it, I felt so bad. That wasn’t

me. That wasn’t how my mom and dad raised me. They would

have been so hurt and disappointed.” Believe me. Please,

believe me.

“You’re a liar. Now, tell me.”

Coralyn found that she couldn’t disobey. What did she have

to offer except the truth? Her eyes never broke from Giana’s

face. “I don’t know. I felt something I didn’t understand. I just

couldn’t say no. You’re the one who hit your head, but I’m not

in my right mind either.”

A scathing sigh, like Giana found her pathetic. Maybe she

did. It was probably warranted. “Were you going to tell me?

Or were you just going to keep deceiving me into thinking that

I loved you? Were you going to make me beg? Were you

going to worm your way into every aspect of my life and use it

to destroy me?”

“No! No, I wasn’t going to do that! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’ll

say it a hundred times. However you want me to say it. I’ll pay

whatever price I have to pay. I never wanted your money, and

after thinking about it, I never wanted to hurt you either. It was

only about the necklace and then it was a landslide of

everything else. And my dad—that’s not fake. All of this is

real. He’s still gone. I did get to say goodbye. He woke up

before he passed away. He told me to tell you the truth, that

everything could be fixed by admitting that you were wrong

and asking for forgiveness, and I was going to. I was trying to

figure out how. In the morning. Or the day after. I just needed

some time. I can’t think. I lost him and that’s all I can think

about. I was alone and you, no matter who you were or that it

was a lie, you said that I didn’t have to be, and I wanted that. I