They knew I’d stolen it.
"You've been spying for your uncle," David declared. “You stole Greyson’s phone, you handed over key evidence that could’ve destroyed our family.”
"How did you?" I asked.
"So you don't deny it?" Greyson stood, his jaw clenched, his hand in a fist. I flinched as he rushed towards me. “You stole from me?”
He stopped and looked down, relaxing his grip.
"I had no choice, my uncle, he threatened me."
"You could've told me."
"I didn't know you!" I shouted. "It's been a whirlwind, Greyson. I didn't know if I could trust you. I didn't know-"
"You knew last night," He said as he turned away from me, looking out the window. "I loved you, Joanna. I told Dennis you would never betray me, but you already had."
I wrapped the satin robe around me, under the sheets, and stood, walking towards him.
He shied away from me. "I will not have someone in my home that lies to me. That betrays me. By all rights, I should have you executed."
I swallowed. Death. That was what I deserved. That was what I was owed. And it would come for me. If I'd disobeyed my uncle, it would've come from him, but now, because I'd done as I was told, it would come from Greyson. The man I loved.
“I understand,” I said as I stood there. My entire body was numb.
“You won't fight it? You won't beg?” his father asked, intrigued. “I didn’t expect this from someone of your family. I’m impressed. You have no trade you wish to make?”
I blinked at him. Was this some kind of test? I didn’t care, I wasn’t playing their games.
“Why should I? It's coming for me either way.” Death had always been coming for me. There was no escape from it.
“I will not have you killed.” I swear I saw tears building in his eyes but he blinked them away, turning so that I could not see his face. “I made a vow to protect you not twenty-four hours ago. But this is as far as my protection goes. Get out of here, Joanna. Take your stuff and go. I'll have the rest sent from my condo to your father's."
“Greyson,” I pleaded one last time. “Please, I love you.”
“If you did, you would have been honest with me.”
I didn’t have a retort for that. I just shrunk away from him.
Pain. Hurt. Betrayal. It was all laid out for him there in those beautiful grey-green eyes.
Tears streamed down my face.
"Just. Go. Before my father refuses to grant me this request." He reached out and grabbed me, pulling me to him and kissing me one last time. It was painful and awful, filled with malice as his teeth bit down on my lip, but I endured it.
I deserved it.
“Go,” he said one last time.
I wrapped the robe tightly around me and walked out of the room. My bags were next to the door, and I took them as I left the hotel room. I was too numb to process this, but I knew it would hit me. I knew when it did no amount of consoling would take away the pain. The tears.
I'd caused all of this. I deserved it.
And it was going to tear me apart.
Greyson
I stood there as she walked out, feeling nothing but numb. I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t want her to walk away, I knew what she’d been forced to do, her uncle had said as much, but I still couldn’t believe she’d gone through with it. A part of me expected her to be loyal. To be the woman I wanted her to be. I was so f*ck
ing angry I couldn’t look at anyone, so I stared out of the window.
It was my f*ck
ing honeymoon, for Christ’s sake. I was supposed to be bending her over that bed f*ck
ing her like crazy and reveling in her touch, not kicking her out.
“I’m sorry son, it sucks to find out like that.” My father stood. “Come on men, let’s give him some space.”
“No one goes after her, do you understand? You can go after her uncle, go after her family, but you don’t f*ck
ing touch her.” I ground out each world like it was important. Like it meant something. This shit mattered to me in a way that no one else could understand. I wasn’t going to betray her, I promised I’d protect her. “She was just a pawn.”
“Yes. We understand,” Janson said as the rest of the men filed out. “Greyson-” he started, but I didn’t want to hear a word he had to say.
“Just go, man. I can’t deal with this right now.”
He nodded and fled the room too. When I was sure they were all gone I walked over to the mirror and looked into it. Bloodshot eyes, naked aggression. This was who I was now.
I’d loved and felt the sting of it as it bit me in the f*ck
ing ass.
No more. Never again.
I punched the man in the mirror right in the face, shattering the glass into a million tiny pieces and leaving cuts on my knuckles that oozed blood. It was exactly what I deserved.
I loved her, god dammit. I loved her so much. And she betrayed me.
I punched that f*ck
ing mirror again.
Chapter Twenty
Joanna