Page 128 of Wasted

“That was great. He may not have agreed to help Sydney yet, but he will. Now that he knows we know all about his dirty secret, he’ll be more willing to play ball next time. Especially if we can get more leverage. Maybe a witness of some of the times he met with Sydney or?—”

“Enough.” Victoria’s tone, sharper than he’d ever heard her use, stopped him cold. She swung her hand toward the mansion. “That was the most humiliating thing I’ve ever done. It accomplished absolutely nothing except for creating potential embarrassment for my father and the country club and breaking up a marriage.”

“Now, hold on.” Frustration heated Cillian’s chest. “If any marriage is broken up, Massey’s the one who did that when he started sleeping around with teen girls. And your dad? Really? I know you’ll do whatever he wants, but does he really mean more to you than an unwed teen mom and her baby?”

Her cheeks turned red as she glared at him. “How dare you? How dare you insinuate I don’t care about Sydney and her child?” She pivoted and stalked to the unlocked car, going to the driver’s door.

But Cillian had the key fob in his pocket, since he’d driven. He followed her, walking around to the passenger door for now. He slid his legs into the cramped floor space as Victoria pulled another key fob from her purse. Of course, she would have a spare with her.

She started the car, then reached for the gearshift.

He laid his hand on her slim arm. “Vicks, wait.” He couldn’t lose her now. Couldn’t let her slip back into her father’s control. Not when she was getting so close to breaking free.

She finally looked at him, hurt and anger mixing in her beautiful eyes.

“Do you ever wonder how life would be different if you and I had stayed together all this time? If you’d chosen me instead of your dad?”

She looked away, staring out the windshield. The line of her jaw tightened.

He made himself wait. Let her think. She had to have wondered. Had to have wished, like he had, that they hadn’t broken up.

“I made the decision. It was my idea to break up. My dad didn’t even know about it.”

Victoria felt Cillian’s stare as she pulled her arm away from his touch.

His intake of air filled the cold silence of the car. “That can’t be true.” Hurt tightened his voice.

She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to hurt him, but he needed to know. Needed to stop hoping and interfering. She needed to reestablish the boundaries she should have kept from the moment he’d stepped back into her life.

“Why?”

She steeled her resolve and forced herself to face him. But she nearly winced at the confusion and pain in his eyes.

Cillian never showed pain. Not to anyone but her. And now she had to hurt him once again. But it had to be done.

“Why do you think, Cillian? I left my dying mother to go out with you.” Her throat swelled with emotion, pinching her tone. But she had to keep going. “She died alone.” Tears blurred her view of him. She looked away, catching the tears before they could fall far.

“She died in her sleep, Vicks. You couldn’t have saved her. You said she’d been peacefully sleeping for days. She was comfortable at home with hospice coming in during the day. You were all just waiting for her to pass.”

“I don’t know if she did die in her sleep.” She threw him a glance. “That’s what I told everyone, but she could’ve awoken and looked for me when I…” her throat swelled, “wasn’t there.”

“You were only gone half an hour, tops. You felt so guilty for going out with me, you wanted to go right back, remember?”

“That was thirty minutes too long. I never should have let you talk me into going out that night.” Just as she shouldn’t have followed him to confront Lawrence Massey. Would she never learn?

“So it’s my fault she died?” Simmering anger laced the question. That was more like Cillian. But he was only trying to defend himself, his reflex when hurt.

She sighed. “No, it’s mine.” She met his gaze. “That was my decision, too. But I never should have left. And I’ve had to live with the knowledge that I let my mom die alone. But I couldn’t possibly keep seeing you. I couldn’t take the chance that I would again allow you to persuade me to do something wrong.”

“You were a fifteen-year-old kid, Victoria. You shouldn’t have been the one having to sit by your mom’s death bed day and night.” His eyes flashed, but his frustration wasn’t entirely aimed at her. “That burden never should’ve been put on you. It was too much. You were exhausted. I saw it. You needed a break.”

“I needed to be there for my mother.”

“And since you weren’t, you have to pay for it for the rest of your life?” His raised voice bounced off the walls of the car. “By sacrificing everything for your family?”

As if that were a bad thing. Answering irritation rushed through her torso. “No, I choose to honor my mother by doing what she would have wanted, by holding her family together and making sure her children thrive.”

“And making her husband happy at all times? Is that part of the slave-labor penance, too?”