The Wrong Bride (The Windsors, #1)(73)

The torment in her expression hits me right in the heart. Tears fill her eyes, and I look away.

“Ares,” she pleads. “Don’t say that. It’s always been you and me, from the very start. This is just a detour. You’re confused because you’re living with Raven. The whole world is seeing this fairytale romance that just doesn’t exist. History like ours isn’t replaceable, Ares.”

She wipes away her tears, but they won’t stop falling. It’s been years, yet despite our history, I still can’t tell if any of her tears are real. They don’t hit me the same way Raven’s do.

“Last time I asked, you refused to answer when I asked if you’re sleeping with my sister.”

I freeze, genuine guilt and shame fighting for dominance over my thoughts. Fuck.

“Are you, Ares?”

I look into her eyes. “Yes,” I say simply. There’s no point in hiding it. I can’t allow her to hang onto even a single shred of hope. Doing so would hurt my wife, and I can’t let that happen.

Hannah’s eyes widen a fraction, and something about her expression genuinely guts me. Perhaps none of the tears she’s shed so far have been real, but these most certainly are.

“W-what?”

I look away, unable to provide her with the consolation she needs from me. I can’t encourage continuous blurring of the lines between us. It isn’t fair to Raven, but it isn’t fair to Hannah either.

“I’m sorry, Hannah. She’s my wife.”

She buries her face in her hands, loud sobs tearing through her throat as she falls apart. Once upon a time, I would’ve been the one to catch her, to hold her. Part of me still wants to do that for her — on account of our shared past, perhaps, but a larger part of me knows that this must end here.

“H-how could you?” The way her voice trembles and catches on the last word is a testament of her devastation, and it kills me that I did this to her. Despite that, I’d rather see tears in her eyes instead of my wife’s.

“Hannah, I’m sorry. You and I both knew we were over the moment you got onto that flight. You knew what the consequences would be, but you were self-centered enough to think you’d get away with it. Yes, it fucking kills me to watch you fall apart, but do you know what hurts even more? The fact that you walked away from everything we could’ve had. The fact that you’re here in my office now, clinging onto something you forced me to let go of. You did this. You destroyed three lives with your actions, and now you’re mad that Raven and I managed to build something with the broken pieces? How is that fair, Han? How is it fair to me? To her?”

She looks at me, and it’s as though she’s finally really seeing me, hearing me. “Ares,” she pleads. “I can’t lose you.”

I look away and stare out the window instead, my heart hollow. “You already did, Hannah.”

She reaches for me and wraps her hand around my arm. “I fucked up.” Her voice breaks. “I fucked up, and I hurt you. I know I did. Please, Ares. I… tell me what to do. Tell me how to salvage what we had. I’ll do anything if it’ll prove to you how much I love you.”

I shake my head. “There’s one thing I need you to do for me, Han.”

She looks up at me, her eyes sparkling with a hint of hope.

“I need you to move on.”

She inhales sharply, fresh tears filling her eyes. “You’re confused,” she says, a vicious streak flashing through her eyes. “Pussy-whipped, perhaps. It’s been forever since you had anyone but me, after all. I get it, I do. I can overlook discretions, Ares. I see it around me all the time. I can forgive you for anything, even if she’s my sister. I’ll let it go. Fuck her for three years straight if you want to, so long as you come back to me. That’s all I ask, Ares. Just come back to me, please.”

I rise to my feet and take a step away. “I need you to leave, Hannah. It’s what you do best, after all.”

She freezes, seemingly in shock. I suppose I’ve never spoken even remotely harshly to her. I’ve always known I’d marry her and instantly gave into her, no matter what she wanted or did. I always kept the peace between us. Perhaps that is what made her so convinced she could walk all over Raven and me the way she did. I’m done indulging her.

“No?” I ask when she stares at me motionlessly. “Then for once, you’ll watch me walk out on you. On us. Forever.”

I inhale deeply and walk away, letting my office door slam closed behind me.





Chapter Forty-Six





Raven





Ares tightens his grip on my hand as our limousine approaches the theater that Hannah’s latest movie is being screened at. I keep trying to remind myself that he has to make an appearance since he’s the CEO of the production company behind this blockbuster movie, but I’m uneasy.

This is the first time all three of us will be present at such a public event, and it’s the first event we’re attending as a married couple. There’s so much pressure, and so much could go wrong. So far, we’ve been safe from the media’s attention in large part, but we can’t escape them tonight.

We can’t escape Hannah.

“Cupcake,” Ares says as he raises my hand to his lips. “How do you feel?”