Game over.
“You will not speak about Maddie like that.”
For a second, I faltered. Just a second. But I couldn’t let him see it. I swallowed the tremor in my chest and straightened my shoulders, lifting my chin higher, letting a thin smile curve across my lips. “So, it’s true then. You love her. Enough to defend her, enough to throw away everything we could have had. Everything we were supposed to be.”
His expression didn’t change, but his words struck harder than any blow. “There was never a future for us, Michelle. Whatever story you told yourself, whatever fantasy you believed in, it wasn’t real. Maddie is my future. She always will be.”