Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)

“Will I get holidays? While you build your perfect family—the one you care so little about that you keep them around you all the time—will I at least get holidays?”

I scraped my fingers against my skull, trying to find the right words. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“We could have talked about this. You said you trusted me.”

“I do—”

“But you never told me. You just…hurt me instead.”

“Snitch—”

“I almost fell for it again. All your pretty words. But you just want to stash away the mistress, live happily ever after with

Lottie. Come visit me for holidays. Give me a nice stipend.”

“After everything, you still don’t trust me?”

“Why should I when all you do is lie!”

“I tell you the truth. You’re the only one I tell the truth to.” I gripped her wrist, begging her to see the truth in my eyes.

There was a cavern between us.

A vice grip on my heart.

She looked into my eyes, and I could see she was searching for something.

But fuck, whatever it was…she didn’t find it.

“I need you to believe me, Snitch,” I said.

Of everyone, I need her to believe me. I need her to trust me. I’d never needed anything more.

“I…” I swallowed the pain in my chest, the voice in my head calling me a fucking pussy. “I can’t have you not trust me, Snitch.”

Tears welled in her lids; then she shucked me off. “Get out of my way, Playboy Gray.”

I was losing her.

I couldn’t lose her.

“You try and leave, I will stop you.”

There was an icy-cold rush in my veins, and the closer she got to the door, the less I felt, the number I got.

She threw a look over her shoulder. “You can’t scare me into staying.”

“Snitch, I’m not trying to scare you. I’m trying to…” I dragged my hands down my face. I know this isn’t how you’re supposed to love. The seeds Snitch planted inside my heart in the dark had taught me that.

This is how my grandfather would handle it.

With threats and fear.

But I can’t think past my heartbeat rushing through my ears.

“I will make it impossible,” I said. “You will be put on no-fly lists. If you try and cross the border, they’ll catch you. If I have to become the Grayson Crowne you thought I once was to keep you here, I will.”

Her jaw flexed. “I can fight back now, Grayson. I have the money.”