Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“Common?” Raquel was visibly bewildered. “I don’t understand. You were everything to him—-”
“Yes. I am.” The admission made her bitterness grow inside of her, and with it her pain. “I’m everything to him,” she choked out, “because his grandmother’s will left Marcus no choice. He made me think that he didn’t want to divorce me because he still loved me, but he had lied. The only reason he didn’t want me to go was because his grandmother’s will took a divorce out of the equation. He stood to lose everything with a divorce—-”
Tears burned in her throat, but Anneke would be damned if she would shed another tear for a man who kept betraying her, over and over.
Looking at Raquel, she said dully, “That’s why he chose to lie to me instead.” Her head bowed, and for several moments, neither of them spoke. At first, Anneke believed it was because Raquel didn’t believe anything she had said until –
“I know you’re not lying.”
Anneke slowly looked up.
“I know that, but I can’t – I simply cannot make myself believe there isn’t more to it. The old Marcus could have done what you told me, but the Marcus you loved? The Marcus you changed so much that—-” A tear tracked down her cheek, and Raquel wiped it off with a laugh that was half-painful, half-angry. “It’s been so long since I last cried, do you know that? And I don’t think I’d ever be like this again until—-” Raquel’s thin body shook as she struggled to keep her emotions in check. “I know – I know you have no reason to believe me, but please. Please give my son a chance to explain. He may have lied about the other things, but he hadn’t lied about loving you.”
“I’m sorry,” Anneke whispered tremulously. “But I just can’t—-”
“Please.” Raquel reached over to clasp Anneke’s hands tightly between hers. “I’ve already hurt him so badly, and it was all because I was afraid. I c-couldn’t make myself accept that I could have my son back in my life again. That he could actually do the unthinkable, forgiving me—-” More tears fell down her cheeks. “He told me it was all because of you. That loving you changed him. And to think h-he even asked for my forgiveness—-”
Raquel fell to her knees.
Anneke paled.
“This is all I can do for my son.” Raquel stared up at Marcus’ wife. “Please. I’m begging you. Please give my son one more chance.”
MARCUS’ ENTIRE PENTHOUSE apartment was shrouded in darkness when she let herself in. It took a while before she found him, alone in the balcony, and when Anneke whispered his name—-
He whirled around clumsily to face her, a visibly stunned expression on his handsome face. “Anneke?” He took a step towards her, unsteady on his feet, and it broke her heart to see the loss of grace in his movements. It just wasn’t right.
“You shouldn’t—-” Marcus raked a hand through his hair. “You shouldn’t be here.”
His words were halting, and this broke her heart even more. This wasn’t right either, when he used to be so wonderfully eloquent.
“I didn’t want to be here at the start,” she answered shakily. “I was so happy, you know? But then Freddie told me what she discovered about your grandmother’s will—-”
Pain fleeted over her face, and Marcus sucked his breath.
“It was like the past all over again,” she revealed brokenly.
“I’m sorry.”
“You made me think you were after me—-”
Marcus’ lips tightened. He wanted to tell her it was so, that he had been after her from the start, but he didn’t let himself. It was better this way. He had to let her go so she could find herself a better man.
When he only stared at her stoically, Anneke knew she had to try harder. “Were you really ever after me?”
Nothing.
“Did you mean anything you said to me?”
Nothing.
“Were you simply lying when you made feel I was beautiful and good—-”
This time, Marcus could no longer help it, and he said harshly, “You are that. You’re all of that and more, that’s why—-”
When he stopped, she took the risk, finishing his words for him. “That’s why what, Marcus? That’s why you love me?”
His lips didn’t move, but the look in his eyes was everything.
And it was enough.
Oh dear God, it was more than enough, since that look in his eyes promised her everything.
“If I h-hadn’t come here,” she choked out, “you’d never have come after me, w-would you?”
“No.” His tone was dull. “I wouldn’t have. I’m afraid that’s the kind of man I am—-”
“I know.”
Her words lashed at him, and he thought numbly, And so she did. Anneke believed he had been using her from the start, and he had to let her go on thinking that, for her sake.
“I know exactly the kind of man you are, my love—-”