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“You say you’re half of your father like thatcertain Like you aren’t half of your ave you life, and that she would want you to live it fully And don’t forget what Don and Mary gave you, not through genetics, but what they taught you You’re bigger than one er than one event”

“And you speak like you have anythingthe insult, hating the words even as they left his lips He was a coward And in that er to make her leave so he wouldn’t have to listen to her anymore

Because she was too close to tearing the veil away To exposing him, not just to her, but to himself, for the first time

“Out,” he said “Get out”

She stood for a moment, her blue eyes fixed on his, s into her soul Her pain, her sadness, worst of all, her love For him Love he didn’t deserve Couldn’t accept

“Get out, Paige I don’t want you here I don’t want you” The last words were torn fro a piece of his soul with them A lie he had to tell A lie he hated

She bit her bottom lip and nodded, then turned and walked out of the roo the door behind her He didn’t want to follow her He didn’t want to watch her walk out of the house, drive away Out of his life He would deserve it He should want it

But he didn’t He so desperately didn’t He wanted to cling to her words To tell her that she was right To will himself to believe it no matter what So he could have her So he could have Ana

He looked around his desk, it ell-ordered So perfect And for the first ti around him was a lie He was broken Disheveled Destroyed And no as would fix it

He put his hand on his desk, on top of a le, in the exact spot it needed to be for him to reach it with ease when he was seated He picked it up by the handle and looked at it, felt the weight of it in his hand

And he looked back down at the surface of his desk A place for everything, everything in its place And he hated it

He growled and hurled theit into a hundred pieces He braced hi to the floor