Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

Oh. Wow.

“What did you tell the press?” I asked, blinking out of my stupor.

“Our story. How you saved me, how I fell in love with you despite our worlds.”

>

“Even Ned?” I wondered.

“The right thing to do would be to tell you it’s your story, and so I didn’t say a word of it.”

I looked up, peering into his eyes. “So you didn’t tell it?”

His jaw was hard, and his grip on my thigh tightened. “I’m not a hero.”

“You’ve always been my hero.”

He worked his jaw. “Maybe I knew if I told that story with your name attached, you’d be dragged through the mud, so maybe I told a different truth.”

A wrinkle formed on my brow. “A different truth?”

Theo told me how he’d painted a picture of Ned as a backstabbing coward who only wanted to marry me to get close to my money.

“Gray and Gemma helped,” he admitted. “They backed me up and said they would excommunicate him from your world.”

That would obliterate him.

He might not go to jail, but he could never show his face in Crowne Point again, or in our world. His reputation would be ruined. For some reason, we lived in a society where it was okay for men to terrorize women, but they could never be foolish, and they could never be weak.

“They helped?” I couldn’t stop the awe in my voice. Theo nodded, and I grinned and buried my face in his chest. “You’re my hero.”

He hadn’t told my story, but Ned was ruined anyway.

“He loved Abigail Crowne,” I mused. “He didn’t know what to do with just Abigail. Now he has to live as just Ned.”

“I knew he was an idiot,” Theo said, eating a fry. It was unfair how hot he looked just eating a stringy potato. All thoughts flew out the window, stuck on his pillowy lips. As if he knew what I was thinking, he grinned crookedly, arching a brow.

“Where are you living?” he asked suddenly, eyes hard.

I paused.

Oh my God—where was I going to live?

“I was sleeping at the motel. I don’t really know where I’m going to live.” I charged the room on my credit card, but my mom was going to cut that off soon.

I set down my burger.

“Abs,” Theo said. “What are you thinking?”

I could barely hear him.

What was I going to do?

I have nowhere to go.

Was this what a panic attack feels like? I couldn’t breathe. Don’t get me wrong, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I’d always choose Theo, always. I just… I’m scared. My life had always been comfortable and easy. I’ve never had to worry about material things.

I was homeless.