Page 23 of Before Broken Vows

Now I don't regret not telling him all of the reasons I was scared.

I swallow hard. I feel it now—that ache. The one I've kept buried since I showed up. Since I handed him my vulnerability on a platter when I asked for help, and he just pushed it off the fucking table like it was trash.

I may not deserve a lot of things, but I sure as hell don't deserve to be treated like a doormat.

I spin on my heel, Calli's black dress twisting around my legs as I march back to the dining room, my heels clicking across the marble like gunfire.

I'm mad now. Angry. I do this, I know. I push things down, tell myself I deserve it, and then explode.

I know it. He knows it.

So if he wants a war, he's about to get one.

I find Theo still seated, swirling a new glass of wine, his jaw set in that hard line I used to trace with my fingertips.

"You know what?" I snap. "I get that you're angry. I do. But I told you I was scared, and you acted like I said nothing at all."

He leans back in the chair.

"You done?"

"Not even close."

He arches a brow. "Then by all means, keep going. This is fun."

I walk toward him, heart beating rapidly. "I didn't come back to grovel. I didn't come back to be judged like I'm nothing but trash."

"No," he says, eyes narrowing. "You came back to lie. Again."

"I haven't lied to you."

"You're keeping things from me, Stassi," he says, standing now, towering over me. "Every second you stay silent is a lie."

"You think this is easy for me?" I shoot back, stepping close to him. "I'm walking a tightrope, Theo, and all you're doing is lighting fires under it."

He's breathing hard now. "You don't get to make your fear my problem."

"You know what?" I yell, not bothering to keep my voice down. "Fuck you, Theo."

He tilts his head. "Excuse me?"

"I told you I was scared. That's the truth. But you don't want to hear it because it doesn't fit your narrative of me as the cold-hearted bitch who abandoned you."

He shoots hot air out his nose. "And what narrative should I be following, Stassi? The one where you had a perfectly good reason to disappear without a fucking word? Leaving behind a life where we could have ended up..." he trails off.

"There's no perfect reason," I say, shrugging, lifting my arms into the air, "but there is a reason. One I can't just blurt out over lamb and wine like we're catching up on old times."

"Then when? When do I get the truth? Tomorrow? Next week? Or are you going to vanish again the moment whatever you're running from is gone?"

There's a new edge to his voice that wasn't there years ago. A hardness. This isn't just my Theo anymore—this is Theo Kastaris, the man who makes people disappear.

"I'm not going anywhere," I say, taking a step forward. "Not this time."

"Bold promise from someone who planned on leaving a fucking note."

The accusation hits like a physical blow. "It was just a temporary fix. I wanted to talk to you over the phone first. See how you felt. I don't know, Theo. Since the beginning, I did what I had to do."

"For who?" His voice drops dangerously. "For yourself? Because it sure as hell wasn't for me."