She stood there transfixed, listening with tears streaming down her face to his revelations.
‘And suddenly I didn’t think my father was so weak any more. I actually understood him. That first night we met, my intention was to get you to my room—a kiss, perhaps, just enough to prove what I already knew—that you didn’t love Aiden—to shame you into staying away from him. It was never my intention to…’ He closed his eyes fleetingly. ‘I don’t think I need to remind you what happened, but in case you missed it I fell in love that night—fell so hard it hurt. I spent the next five days trying to work out how I could see you again, how to be with you, how to stop you taking up Aiden’s offer of marriage.’
‘I was never going to accept it,’ she pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears.
‘I could have married you knowing it was a business deal. I even figured that once you’d had a taste of the high life you might hang around—we could even have made it to forty years, like my parents. Yesterday, when you told me it wasn’t your debt, I felt sick, physically sick at the prospect of losing you. I felt like the biggest heel in the world for still making you stick to the contract, but it was nothing compared to the terror I felt when you realised you could pay me back. I didn’t want to lose you, Tabitha.’
‘You don’t have to,’ she argued, tears coursing down her cheeks, begging for him to listen, to finally understand. But her tears didn’t move him, didn’t sway him an inch from the lonely moral high ground he was taking.
‘I could almost have lived with it. Knowing you were with me for the lifestyle didn’t seem to matter so long as I had you in my arms at night. But I knew the one thing I wouldn’t be able to bear was you pretending that you loved me; the one thing I wouldn’t be able to stand was hearing you lie to me.’
‘I’m not lying now, Zavier. You have to believe me…’
‘You’re a con-artist, Tabitha.’ The venom returned to his voice then, his words ripping at her very core. ‘You’ve beguiled each and every one of us at every turn. First you’re Aiden’s girlfriend, then a gambler, then you change your story when it suits you so your grandmother’s the one with the problem—and then, when it all falls through, when there’s no chance I’ll marry you, you throw in the fact you supposedly love me in an attempt to win me round.’#p#分页标题#e#
‘But I do love you,’ she pleaded. ‘I have since that first night…’
‘I might be weak where you’re concerned but I’m not a fool. How can I ever believe a word that you say?’
The full magnitude of her loss hit her then—a loss of insurmountable proportions. This sophisticated, strong, beautiful man had loved her. This aching, gaping void, which would surely be her life now, was the price of her deception.
What had started as a silly game had cost her dearly.
There was no point arguing over the small details, no point pleading her case; she was guilty as charged, and though the sentence was harsh there was nothing to gain from an appeal.
Just the hell of agony prolonged.
The tears that had started at the outlook flowed unchecked as they drove on, the ocean too quickly replaced by the freeway, the city drawing closer and closer and closer, until finally it was upon them. The car slowed down as it drove through the empty late-night streets. Every light was green, of course, as if the whole world was conspiring to ensure the imminent ending was a swift one.
Popping the boot, he stayed in the front, clenching the steering wheel as she hauled her suitcase onto the street and up the path, her heels clipping noisily as she dragged the case along. But he didn’t drive off; she had known he wouldn’t. Ever the gentleman, despite his wrath, he would see her safely inside.
It only took a second of rummaging through her bag for her to realise that her keys weren’t where they should be.
So much for a dignified exit!
Of all the times to misplace the blessed things, this wasn’t the one Tabitha would have chosen. Looking up, she saw the irritated set of his chin, his fingers drumming impatiently on the steering wheel. She could almost hear the pained sigh as he threw open the car door and stepped out.
‘What now?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’ She tossed her head defiantly. ‘You go on to the hospital.’
‘I would if you’d just get inside.’
‘I’ve lost my keys.’
The roll of his eyes was too much for her already strained nerves. ‘Well, if you hadn’t rushed me…’ she argued.