Page 121 of Vain

“Just to make you smile, at least in the beginning. I’ll admit, I used some bullying tactics. But it was all so that you would stop going out there and doing things where it’s not safe.”

“But you’re the one that made me not safe.”

“No, Cliff did,” he says with a wink. “But now he’s dead—self-defense, of course—after he shot Marley and me.”

All my twisted thoughts unravel as memories come floating to the surface. “You snuck into my trailer and cut off my hair.”

“Hair grows back, Matilda.”

“You burned my fucking skin off,” I scream at him, making me jump.

“Yes, I’m sorry about that, but it worked. It had to be done. Fun fact, though. It was Daniel who threw you in the shower, so I guess the useless fuck was good for something.”

I don’t let myself think about Daniel. I can’t. “You ran me off the road and nearly killed me.”

“That was not my intention. Everything just got a little out of control.”

“You set fire to my home. Our home.”

“So we could rebuild something new, something wonderful. And it was a great way to mark myself as the victim. And people would look at you like the monster you are.”

I shake my head in disgust, unable to stop my tears from flowing. “I loved you. I loved you so damn much. How could you do this to me? To Marley?”

For a minute he looks stricken before his face turns resolute. “There was no other way.”

When his phone rings, he pulls it out and looks at it. “That’s our cue to leave.”

Once Greyson’s phone stops ringing, Marley’s phone starts. My heart skips a beat because I just know it has to be Aiden.

“Answer that and I’ll shoot you in the face. I don’t want to, Marley, my old friend, but I will.”

Marley shakes his head. “What happened to you?”

Greyson sighs, adjusting himself. The blood from his wound is pooling on the floor beneath him now. “Hattie happened.”

“What does my mother have to do with this?”

He laughs then, but it’s a cold and cruel sound, something I’ve never heard from him before. “She forced me to lie. She made me give up the one thing I truly loved. And then it was too late, too much water under the bridge, too many steps to climb.” I look at Marley, who frowns.

“What did she make you give up?”

He looks at me then, his eyes staring into mine, and it’s like the answer unlocks itself. “My daughter.”

“No.”

“Yes. I thought it was love, but it was nothing but a ploy. She wanted a rich husband and a baby, which was the only way to get one.”

“You could have fought for me.”

“I had nothing. They were married a week after she found out she was pregnant. The deal was, I keep my mouth shut and I’dget to play an active role in your life, but you could never know the truth. I thought it would be enough. And for a while, it was.”

“Until I wanted to leave. Why not tell me when I was an adult?”

“I thought you might hate me.”

I look at him incredulously. “Yes, if the options are the truth or stalking, please do choose the illegal one.”

“I couldn’t risk it.”