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He nods, not a hair moving out of place. Not like when we were younger, and his hair was so tousled it was if he didn’t have a care in the world. I suppose we didn’t. The man sitting in front of me is different – just like I am. But he is still the man who hurt me. “I was excited, at first, at the possibility of seeing you. Rekindling our old flame. Until my mother told me you’d already wed. I couldn’t fucking believe it.”
“There is no ‘rekindling our old flame,’ Kane. I saw you as a brother and nothing more. You didn’t just hurt me, you hurt everyone. You took something away from me that everyonearound meis having to pay for. I makeeveryonesuffer because of what you did to me.”
“You wanted it, Sabrina.”
“Yourapedme, Kane,” I whisper. Not because I’m still ashamed, but so he’lllisten. So his ears will look for the words coming out of my mouth. “I saidstop,and you kept going. I saidno, and you proceeded to touch, and kiss, and bite, and lick, and prod, and poke, andpenetratewhat isn’t yours. Wasneveryours.Thatis rape. You broke my heart. My mind. My body. You violated my trust. Andthat… was the biggest betrayal of all.”
I can see his mind working, hazel eyes growing red, cheeks flushing. “I’m not a bad man, Sabrina. I just – I love you. You and I were meant to be. Even as children, you and I were to be entwined. I negotiated fo-”
A chill rushes down my spine, and I openly shudder, fissures blaring through my brain like cracks on a mirror. I stand so quickly my chair hits the wall behind me, causing things to clatter, possibly even fall, but I don't care. “You need to leave, Kane. Right now.”
“Sabrina. Let’s just talk about this. We can fix this. It isn’t too late-”
“Fixthis? I have spentyearstrying to fix whatyoubroke, Kane. Years.” My voice goes hoarse. “And it isn’t enough. I will never be enough for anyone because you broke me.”
“You’re still perfect for me, Sabrina.”
Because he’s the one that fucked me up.
I see nothing but red and swallow nothing but bile down as I grab the monitor of my desktop, uncaring of the sound it makes when the cords rip out of the wall. I throw it at him. It narrowly misses him by an inch, and that only makes meangrier. My empty coffee mug shatters by his head next. I’m throwing everything. It doesn’t matter – my rage, my vitriol, my disgust –finallyaimed at the right person.
But then he’s gone.
Like he was never there.
And once again, it’s a mess.
Everything around me is a mess.
Left for me to clean up.
I lean over, and vomit.
“Bri?”
I stand up straight to face a wide-eyed Jonas and a grimacing Lily holding my macchiato. I smooth down my skirt, then my hair, and sniff. “Take me to my husband, please.”
“I… I think he’s still at PresCorp Tower.”
My voice cracks. “Then get me as close as you can to my husband, please.”
He nods, holds his hand out to me, helping me get away from the destruction. He doesn’t say another word – just leads me to the bathroom so I can vomit once more, freshen myself up, then takes me to Eden.
Eden is empty.
They don’t open until just before the dinner rush during the weekdays – but Jonny opens the door for us anyway.
I order the Adrianna.
Watched the bartender pour it. Tentatively, he places it in front of me.Then, I watch as he goes back to whatever he’s doing.
There’s noise in the background.
Voices.
I take my glove off for the first time in public in three years – just to feel the chilled condensation on the pad of my thumb.
Just as I'd suspected.