“You weren’t supposed to tell him—”
“So you could keep screwing me?” The tears made streams down her cheeks and dripped to her chin, ruining her makeup along the way. “Was this another part of your vengeance? To screw his sister to stick it to him?”
That was fucking offensive. “No. But if you were really going to talk to him about it, I would have come clean and explained why you couldn’t do that. You didn’t talk to me. You didn’t include me in the discussion.”
“He’s my brother. I don’t have to include you in the discussion.”
“But I’m in this relationship with you.”
“Relationship?” Now, her voice turned quiet, like I’d said something that stabbed her in the gut. “This was never a relationship. How could you give it that description when you didn’t tell me what you did? And you were obviously never going to.”
I didn’t lie about it. “No…I wasn’t going to.”
Her eyes widened like she couldn’t believe I’d actually said it. “Wow…you’re evil.” Her palms moved to her face, and she gave a hysterical laugh packed with emotion before she dropped her hands, fresh tears on her face. “God, I’m so fucking stupid…”
“This is why I wasn’t going to tell you. Because I knew you would never get past it.”
“Damn right!” She threw her arms down. “How can you sleep at night? How can you be with a woman and look her in the eye every night while knowing she would never even touch you if she knew the truth?” It was a rhetorical question, cutting deep.
“Because neither one of us expected it to turn into this, Catalina.” I came closer to her so we wouldn’t have to scream at each other from opposite sides of the kitchen. “I thought we would last a few weeks then forget about each other. I thought we would mean nothing to each other, that you would be another notch on my bedpost, as I would be on yours. And the longer it went on, the more difficult it became to confess. Because every time I thought about it, I knew what your reaction would be, that you would never forgive me. So, I didn’t tell you…in order to keep you as long as possible.”
She shook her head, her expression filled with disgust.
“For the first time in my life, I’m happy…and I didn’t want to lose that.” I put all my cards on the table, aimed for the stars even though there was no chance I could fix this.
“And you chose your own happiness over mine. Now, I have to live with this, to watch Damien look at me with disgust, to be with my father and know what my lover had intended to do to him. I have to live with this.” She slammed both of her palms against her chest. “You lied to me. You tricked me—”
“And you were just as happy as I was, Catalina.”
Her eyes narrowed and she stepped back. “You’re an asshole, Heath. I don’t mean that playfully anymore. I mean that literally. You were the man I trusted most in the world, and you betrayed me. After all that bullshit about needing to trust you…you were lying to my face.” She shook her head again. “I hate you. I fucking hate you.” Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes before they fell.
That hurt…really fucking bad. “No, you don’t.”
“Oh, trust me, I do.”
“Catalina—”
“I betrayed my own brother for you. I made that phone call when I should have kept my mouth shut. And if I’d known all the facts, I would have let him kill you. I regret that now…will have to live with that regret for the rest of my life.”
I took a deep breath as her words hit me like a thousand blades. “I would take it back if I could, alright? And that’s not who I am anymore. Let’s not forget I released you from that cage when I didn’t have to. The night we met, I changed. I didn’t even know you, and I changed for you. I rescued you from that basement and freed all those women—”
“Because I told you to.”
“But then I banned the practice throughout the entire country.” I slammed my hand into my chest. “Because I wanted to. Because just the idea of that shit happening makes me sick to my stomach. Look, I’m different now. Don’t hate me for something I did before I even knew you. Catalina, come on—”
“Fuck you, Heath.”
“I know I should have told you the truth, but if I had, I would have lost you—”
“Then what was your brilliant plan?” she snapped. “To never tell me, to keep making excuses? For how long?”
“Years…if I could manage it.”
She shook her head again.
“You told me you didn’t want a husband until you were thirty, so I didn’t see the harm in wasting your time.”