You thought he might care—maybe even love you. You’d dared to imagine a future, one where you both escaped the shadows of Ketterdam and your pasts.

But now he was tearing that hope apart.

“It was all a game,” he said, not meeting your eyes. “I was using you. Did you really think I’d like you?”

He told himself it was better this way—that you’d be better off without him. He wanted you to hate him, scream, slap him—anything but stay and see the truth behind his lies.