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Lies

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Chapter 49: Lies (Rhys's POV)

I was going to tell her last night, I swear, I was planning on it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't spit the words out, something physically stopped me. But as the night passed and I stayed sleepless while Stella dozed off beside me, the pit in my stomach grew and the uneasiness within me slowly took over. Something felt horribly wrong. I couldn't delay this any longer, I had to tell her the next day. 

"I told you to wake me up," Stella whined as she ran down the stairs, pulling her hair out from under her blazer and throwing it over her shoulders. Running straight to me as I continued preparing breakfast, she grabbed me by the shirt and spun me around, coming up on her toes as she slid her hands up to the nape of my neck. 

I blinked and stood still as she pulled me down and smashed her lips against mine. When she pulled away, I only blinked again, quite literally feeling... giddy. There was no other word to describe it. 

Trust me, if there was, giddy would be the last one I would use. 

"Bye," she said quickly, moving past me to rush to the door. 

I caught her arm just before she slipped out of reach and tugged her back swiftly. 

"Rhys, I am incredibly, ridiculously late. I was supposed to be at the office an hour ago and I—" 

I cut her off, kissing her again swiftly before pulling away and placing a toast layered with jam between her teeth. She stared at me a little stunned as I leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Drive safe and have a good day. Save me your lunch break?" 

She nodded, dumbfounded but couldn't bring herself to move. 

"Stella," I said slowly, "you're late." 

"Damn it," she muttered, taking a bite out of the toast and taking it in her hand as she ran out the door, calling out, "Bye!" 

I let out a small chuckle to myself as the front door slammed shut behind her and finished making breakfast for myself. With Stella skipping out on me, I had an entire extra share of it. Slowing down in my movements, I turned to my phone and dialed a number I hadn't dialed in a while. 

"Hello?" she answered. 

"Are you free today?" 

"Is this how you say good morning now, Rhys?" she paused for a beat. "If you're looking for Logan he's not here. He already left for a meeting." 

"If I was looking for Logan, I would have called Logan, not you, Zarah." 

There was another pause, longer this time. "Me? You want to see me?" 

"You are Zarah Markov, aren't you?" 

"What is wrong with you?" she mumbled quietly. "When?" she asked, sighing in defeat. 

I stopped for a moment. "Now?" 

She thought for a while before humming. "Fine. Only because Logan's not here to make me breakfast today and I hear from Stella that you're good in the kitchen." 

"Thank you?" It came out like a question simply because of how backhanded that compliment seemed. 

"Twenty minutes and I'll be there," she said. 

I spent those twenty minutes fixing up something decent for her, considering I had invited her and when the doorbell rang perfectly on time, I let her in. 

Following me into the kitchen, she settled on a barstool, catching the plate as I slid it over to her. "You wanted to see me? Which is strange but... tell me." 

"I..." The words almost got caught in my throat. Admitting it out loud was hard enough but admitting it to Stella's best friend? Even worse. "I need your help," I cleared my throat. 

"With...?" she asked slowly. "Is this for some kind of surprise for Stella?"

"No," I shook my head, cringing. 

She stared at me for a while, her movements growing still. "Oh no," she muttered to herself, "what did you do?" 

I had a fleeting moment where I wondered if telling her was the right thing to do. Would this come back to bite me in the ass if I didn't own up to my mistakes myself? Probably. Did I still trust Zarah to help me? Yes. After all, she was Stella's best friend, I couldn't imagine her wanting anything but the best for Stella. 

"I made a mistake," I confessed. 

"Clearly," she said. 

"It's too late to fix it." 

She sighed in defeat, throwing her head back. 

"But I have to tell her, Zarah. And I don't know how." 

"God damn it, Rhys, we were counting on you. What the hell did you do?" 

"I lied to her," I exhaled, my eyes falling to my plate. 

"About what?" 

I hesitantly lifted my gaze. "Everything," I mumbled. 

Zarah almost paled. "Tell me. Now." 

It took a lot of explaining, and we went way beyond breakfast hours before I was finished telling my side of the story. Zarah was speechless for a few minutes, processing everything, and with her being the first person I told everything about my past, except for Logan, Christian, and Rowan, of course, I didn't know how the fuck to act. 

"Wow, okay," she exhaled, resting her arms on the counter. "You need to tell her, Rhys." 

"Thanks," I bit out, "But I know. That's why I called you. Because I don't know how to tell her this." 

"Tell her like you told me. Sit her down, give her a fair warning, one that you didn't give me." 

I sighed quietly and Zarah softened up a little. Just a little. She was rightfully furious at me. 

I can't even imagine how Stella would react. 

As her best friend, Zarah had every right to hate me and run straight to Stella, telling her everything. But I trusted her enough to give me a chance to do it myself first. "Rhys," she exhaled, "it's... a lot. Everything that happened to you in the past... you didn't deserve it and I'm really sorry you had to go through that. 

"I'm trying my best and I do understand where you're coming from. And I'm telling you to tell Stella everything before it's too late because I know she'll understand you. She won't let you down, you know it too. I'm hoping you won't let her down either." 

I stared at the countertop, taking in every word she said to me. 

"Look, it would be worse if she found out from somebody else. Her father might tell her if he's figured it out by now, Rhys." 

My eyes snapped up to hers. "Do you think he'll hurt her to hurt me?" 

"I wouldn't put it past him." She hesitated, shifting in her seat. "After what happened with Stella's Mom... did she tell you?" 

I nodded. 

"Does she... really not know any of it?" 

"No." 

"Does she not remember you like you remember her?" 

"No," I mumbled. 

"She remembers that kid, Rhys. She still has pictures. She just has no idea that it's you." 

My phone began ringing on the countertop with Stella's name flashing on the screen. I glanced at Zarah before answering, "Hello?" 

"Hey," she exhaled with pure chaos audible behind her, "I just called to tell you that... I can't make it to lunch today," she winced. 

"What?" I closed my eyes in frustration. 

Fuck. 

"I'm really sorry, Rhys, but there's too much going on here today." 

"But Stella—" 

"I'll make it up to you, I promise." 

"That's not it," I chuckled softly at her eagerness. 

"Dinner tonight. I can't promise to cook but I promise to make everything else worth it." 

I couldn't help the grin that took over me. I could hear one of her employees calling her in the background. 

"I have to go. I'll see you tonight, okay? I love you." 

"I love you too," I said, waiting for her to hang up. 

"Let me guess," Zarah said after a minute, "plans to come clean over lunch can't happen anymore?" 

"Right," I nodded slowly in defeat. "She's busy with work." 

"Look Rhys, whatever happens, just don't be too late. Nothing would be worse than her finding out from somebody else, especially from her father. I have no doubt that she'll still hear you out but he won't hesitate to make it seem like everything you've said to her, everything you have with her, every moment you've shared with her..." she shrugged, "it's all been a bunch of lies. I know Stella. She tries her best not to let her father deter her, she hates falling for his tricks and lies. 

"But he knows how to get in her head. He's been manipulating her since she was a kid. He used her to get away with Isabella's murder and he'll use it to get away with getting rid of you too. Don't give him that opportunity. Please, Rhys. Losing you now would kill Stella and I don't want to see my best friend like that. I don't have to ask, the look on your face tells me how much it would kill you to lose her." 

"Why do you believe me?" 

She blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?" 

"You have every reason to run to Stella and tell her to walk away from me. You have every reason to think the worst of me. I did lie to her, Zarah, no matter what the reason was." 

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Your reasons are not unreasonable. I believe you because... you love her, Rhys. I don't think you understand how madly you're in love with her. Everybody sees it. Logan and I talk about it all the time." 

My gaze narrowed. "All the time?" 

She hummed and nodded with an amused smile. "I've heard a few baby Rhys and baby Stella stories. I think it's cute. You have a love worth fighting for." 

"Every love is a love worth fighting for." 

"Says the man who never used to believe in love," she smirked. "See. Love changes things for the better. That's why it's important that we don't let go."

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Chapter 49

this book is gonna be between 52-55 chapters y'all which means we have only 3-5 more left ahhhhh I'm literally so sad to finish this series it's not even funny

the crossovers will be plenty tho, dw and I'm super excited to introduce Tristan and Amara's story - the enemies to lovers will SERVE I promise. you can expect a dagger-to-throat romance with those two

next ch: shattered