“Yes, I’m leaving. I’ve fulfilled my end of the agreement. You’ve caught your bad guys. I don’t see any need for us to continue with the charade.”
Charade. It sure as hell hadn’t felt like a charade. It had felt like she gave a damn. She’d confessed her love for him not twenty-four hours ago. Apparently it had all been smoke and mirrors to protect her sister. He couldn’t keep the steely anger from his voice when he responded. “So I assume you’re wanting me to keep my end of the deal and give you your precious divorce.”
Annie took a deep breath, not answering right away. There was something in her hesitation that urged him to act. He was about to call her on it when her chin snapped up and her blue eyes fixed on him with unmatched intensity. “Yes. I still want the divorce.”
Stupid. Nate was stupid. Even now, when faced with the truth about their relationship, he kept looking for reasons to believe in her. He’d started out this journey in the hopes of getting over Annie once and for all, but it had backfired. He’d ended up falling for her again. Gabe had been right about this whole thing being a bad idea. That fact pissed him off more than anything.
“So you’re just going to run away again?” He stuffed his curled fists into his pockets to contain his anger.
“I am not running away!” A red flush rose to her cheeks and she crossed her arms tightly under her breasts. “I came here to play in the tournament and get a divorce. Just because you tried to twist this arrangement into something it wasn’t doesn’t mean I’m running away. I’m simply putting an end to this relationship once and for all.”
Nate reached out to touch her arm and found her skin ice-cold. Her tell was giving her away. “Please don’t lie to me, Annie.”
“I never lied to you.” Annie spoke the words, but the eye contact dropped and she turned to the window.
The frustration was starting to well up inside of him. How could she throw all this away? Again? He let his arm drop to his side. “You’re lying right now. Acting like this week hasn’t meant anything to you. Damn it, I think our relationship is more important than this situation with your sister. We can work this out.”
“No, we can’t. There’s nothing to work out.”
“Then you’ve changed your mind? You don’t love me after all?”
“Nate, it doesn’t mat—”
“Say it!” he interrupted, his voice booming loudly and reverberating off the walls of the small office. He hadn’t meant to yell, but if that was the only way to get through to her, so be it. “If this whole thing is just a charade you went along with to get your prized freedom and protect your sister, then say it. I want to hear the words before you walk out on me again.”
He expected her to get angry, to start yelling back at him. He wanted emotion out of her—any emotion. Instead, the expression on her face shifted in a way he almost couldn’t see. She was struggling with something. Her feelings? Her loyalty to her family? Annie almost looked defeated, and he’d never seen that in her before. She was first and foremost a fighter.
Her eyes became glassy. She opened her mouth to speak two or three times before she finally found the words. “I...don’t love you. I just said that because I thought I could talk you out of chasing Tessa.”
Her statement rang with about as much truth as a politician’s campaign speech. “I don’t believe you.” Nate stretched out a hand to her again, but she jerked back out of his reach.
She shook her head, blinking away tears she was too stubborn to shed. “It doesn’t matter if you believe me. It doesn’t matter if you love me. It’s over, Nate. Goodbye.”
* * *
Jerry better lock his bedroom door, or Annie would smother the old bastard in his sleep.
There were no words to describe how horrible it was to look into Nate’s eyes and destroy their chance at happiness. Annie had managed to hold her tears back until the doors of the elevator closed, but she sobbed with abandon until she reached the casino floor.
Five seconds.
That’s all it would’ve taken to tell him the truth, consequences be damned. To out Jerry for the rat he was. Instead, she’d done what she had to do to save her sister’s life. At first, she hadn’t been sure she could do it. When she said she didn’t love him, he didn’t believe her. He saw through her bluff and wanted her, anyway. The redemption and love she’d found with him were everything she’d never known she needed. And she’d been forced to throw it all away.