“Yes, but—”
She wrote him a letter.She loves him, and I was nothing but revenge.I couldn’t fucking believe it, but she didn’t deny it.
“I was risking everything to be with you.Everything.And you’re already making sure your boyfriend is going to take you back after you fuck someone else?” I shook my head, disgust coating every word. “You have thirty seconds to get your clothes and get the fuck out of my sight.”
“Lincoln!” Her face was stricken. Probably because her game was up.
I wasn’t going to fall for the tears gathering in her blue eyes this time. I hated that I cared that she’d played me. I hated that I gave her the power to rip my heart out like this.
Forcing myself to turn stone cold, I straightened my shoulders and stared at her with dead eyes.I’m a Riscoff. No one has the power to hurt me. Especially not Whitney Gable.
I knew that was a lie as soon as I thought it. But apparently I’d gotten really fucking good at lying to myself lately.
“I don’t want to hear a fucking word you have to say. Get the hell off my property. I should’ve never trusted a Gable. I knew better.”
39
Whitney
Lincoln’s wordsslashed my skin like shards of broken glass, gouging and leaving me shredded. There wasn’t a single bit of softness or doubt in his tone. Whatever lies Ricky had told Lincoln about me or us, Lincoln had believed him completely, without even giving me a chance to explain.
I blinked back tears, not wanting him to see them fall after he just threw me away like a piece of trash. I rushed to the bed and grabbed my dress off the floor, then yanked it on.
When I turned around to face him, it was like looking at a stranger. His gaze was filled with hate and disgust. I already knew there was no reasoning with him. And why would I want to defend myself to someone who had already decided I was guilty?
“I don’t know what he told you, but you don’t know a single fucking thing about anything. You said you loved me.” A hysterical laugh bubbled up from my throat. “But you don’t have a clue what love is.”
Lincoln’s mouth twisted cruelly. “Save it, sweetheart. I don’t believe a word coming out of your lying mouth. At least it was good for one thing. And that sure as shit wasn’t telling the truth.”
I sucked in a breath. If he was trying to hurt me and drive me away, he’d scored a direct hit. Tears burned my eyes, but I dashed them away.
“Go fuck yourself. I hope you choke on your own dick.”
I ran to the door and grabbed my shoes but didn’t bother to put them on. I wasn’t standing in this room for another second longer than I had to. When I rushed outside into the pouring rain, there was no chance Lincoln would try to chase me down like the first time I ran from this cabin.
One bad decision after another.I should have known better.
Gravel bit into my bare feet as I ran down the driveway toward the road, but I didn’t care. I’d rather walk home barefoot, bleeding, and soaking wet than ask Lincoln Riscoff for anything.
Never again.
I was done with men. Done with all of them.
I was almost to the road when headlights cut across my path, and I dodged the front end of an SUV. I tripped on a log and tumbled into the woods. My wrist screamed with pain as I tried to catch my fall.
“Who the hell’s there? And what the fuck are you doing on my property?”
I was on my knees, holding my wrist, when someone slammed a door and came around to see me struggling to stand in the mud.
As if this night couldn’t get any worse.
Commodore Riscoff.
40
Whitney
Present day