He Put His Ex First So I Found My True Mate Chapter 16
Graham shook his head hard.
“That’s not true. Mara, you’ve got it all wrong.”
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he fumbled inside his coat and pulled out a photograph.
It was creased with age.
It was from the first Harvest Dinner I ever prepared for them. After everyone ate and left, I cleaned until after midnight and fell asleep on the sofa from sheer exhaustion.
“I kept this the whole time.” He held it out to me. “I’ve always known how much you did for me. I just… I didn’t know how to say it.”
I didn’t take it.
If he had remembered that photo on that cold night at the cliff house, if he had opened the suite door and come to sit with me when I was banished to the hall, maybe things would have turned out differently.
Or even earlier.
If, during any of the times I was too tired to keep my scent steady, he had just held me and told me I didn’t have to earn my place by being useful, maybe I would have gone on lying to myself.
But it was too late now.
I shook my head.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve moved on.”
“Do you really not love me at all?” His voice shook.
“I loved you very much once.”
Hope flared in his eyes.
I looked at him and finished the sentence.
“But you used that love up, little by little.”
I opened the car door again.
“Leave, Graham. I don’t want to see you again.”
The pleading on his face twisted, and his scent sharpened with aggression.
Ember reacted before I did, warning of danger.
He lunged and seized my arm, yanking me toward him.
“You can’t do this to me!”
His fingers tightened, digging into my skin.
“You’re mine!”
Fear shot up my spine.
My canines sharpened. My nails dug into the back of his hand.
I didn’t treat it like a lovers’ quarrel.
I fought him with all my strength and shouted toward the house.
“Daniel! I’m calling patrol!”