Page 69 of Betraying Him
I just wish I would have seen this coming, because I could have saved us both the heartache and stayed far, far away from him.
But it’s too late to turn back now.
I once told Harley nothing could come from us spending time together, but I was wrong.
So fucking wrong, because something has come from this.
Day by day, little by little, I’ve been falling in love with him.
And now I’m going to destroy him and his family.
FORTY-NINE
HARLEY
PRESENT DAY
“Jesus,”I whisper as I stare at Savannah with fresh eyes. I’ve always known she was strong, but this just makes me realize I had no idea justhowstrong until this very moment.
Everything has shaped her into the person she is, and I’m one of the few lucky people to know her.
I don’t bother to wipe away my tears, I just continue staring at her, committing her to memory.
“I was shaking the entire time I was in your dad’s office. It’s honestly a miracle I managed to hide how I was feeling from you from the moment you opened the door to the second I left. I didn’t want to do it, Harley, I really didn’t. But the thought of my dad or anyone else hurting you in any way—” She cuts off with a sob, her body almost vibrating as she tries to stifle her cries.
Fuck this.
“Sav, let me hold you, please?”
It only takes her two seconds to respond, but it feels likethe longest two seconds of my life. As soon as she dips her head in a nod, I’m lifting her, sitting on the sofa, and placing her in my lap, my arms tightly around her.
“Shhh, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” I murmur into her hair, and she tucks her head beneath my chin, clinging to me. I settle against the back of the couch, not planning on going anywhere or letting go of her until she tells me she wants me to move.
This is the first time I’ve held her—reallyheld her—without sex being in the equation, and I didn’t know how much I needed this. It’s intimate, but it’s not sexual. It’s just us, doing what we should have been doing this entire time. Holding each other. Soothing each other. Pulling strength from each other when we’re struggling to hold it together.
Four years, wasted.
But no more.
“When I got home that night…” She pauses to swallow, and I can’t take her pain anymore.
“It’s okay, Sav. You don’t need to keep going.”
“No. I need to get it out, all of it.”
I take a shaky breath and nod against the top of her head.
“When I got home, he was sitting in the entrance of the house, waiting for me. I all but threw the flash drive at him, not wanting to touch it anymore. It felt like it was burning me. It felt like it was causing me physical pain, but handing it over did nothing to take it away. If anything, it made it even worse.”
She shifts in my lap, and I run my fingers through her hair to try and soothe her. “He got up to leave the room, and I begged him, pleaded with him not to hurt you. Just as he got to the doorway, he looked over his shoulder and said, ‘You betraying him will cause him enough pain for now, but if you even think of letting this slip… or trying to get help, then I’ll make it so his life is no longer worth living. From now on, you’ll do everything I ask, unless you want your little boyfriend toget hurt.’ As soon as he left, I broke. My legs went out from under me, and I could barely breathe. I felt like I was going to die, and I knew that whatever we had between us was already gone. It took days for the tears to stop, but by then, the end was already in sight.”
I bury my face in her hair and breathe her in, my cheeks wet with tears and my arms locked around her, not letting her leave even if she wanted to. I try to breathe deeply to stop myself from trembling, but once a hiccupping sob leaves her, my fight leaves me.
“Fuck,” I say, my voice breaking, “I’m so fucking sorry you went through that, Sav. I’m sorry you were alone.” My words don’t change a damn thing, but it feels wrong not to say them.
“The morning you picked me up, he told me he was planning to blackmail your father later that day. I knew it was only a matter of hours until everything between us would come to an end,” she whispers, and everything clicked into place.
“That’s why you were acting so weird,” I deduce, and she nods. “I wondered what that was about at the time. I’m sorry you couldn’t talk to me about it, and I’m sorry I thought the worst of you for so long. You deserve so much better than that, Savannah.”
