Chapter dedication: CoffeeCommunity

Song of recommendation for the chapter: STAY - RIHANNA FT. MIKKY EKKO.🎶🎧🎧🎧.

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Lee smiled tentatively at the stunned look on Chris' face. She couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing.

After she was discharged from the hospital that morning, she'd explained her plans to Sutton; she and Carson arrived to pick her up. Neither of them were pleased about it, but they wisely kept their protests to themselves. Sutton made Lee promise to call her if something went wrong between she and Chris, after driving her to his house.

"Can I come in?" Lee asked.

That seemed to snap Chris out of his trance state. He moved aside, leaving the door wide open. "Of course, please come in."

"Thank you."

Lee stepped past him and entered the house. She sighed when the familiar smell of the house wrapped around her. She really missed the place and the peace she felt during her brief visits to Chris.

Chris followed her as she went to sit on the white sofa. She secretly smiled when he fidgeted; his body swaying to and fro, his hands clasped tightly in his lap. He stared at her. The surprised look still lingered on his face.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Water is fine."

He practically ran into the kitchen to get it. Lee bit her lip, wondering how they went from lovers to strangers real fast and made small talks. She supposed that she had herself to blame. Chris wasn't the one who broke things off without a warning.

Chris returned with a bottled sparkling water, her favourite water, and handed it to her. Lee remembered stacking his fridge with the water after they went shopping a day before everything fell apart.

Lee broke the seal, unscrewed the cap, and tipped the bottle back as she raised it to her lips. The cool water slid down her throat, quelling her nerves. After she was satisfied, Lee screwed the cap back on and placed the plastic on the coffee table.

"How have you been?" Chris asked, his fingers entwined on his lap.

It was her turn to be surprised with the way he was acting. Lee half expected that she would be the one to initiate a conversation. "I am better than I've ever been. You?"

"Fine, I guess." He bit his lower lip for a minute, then released the abused flesh with a sigh. "I came to the hospital when I heard you were hospitalized, but I got into a fight with Sutton's husband and had to leave before things got out of hand."

"I know." Lee smiled at him, hoping it would ease his nerves a little. "Please sit down, Chris. You don't have to be afraid of me."

Chris sat on the opposite end of the couch and while the action pained Lee, she thought she couldn't blame him. The last time they saw each other, she'd told him to get out of her life, treated him poorly. She did the same thing he-whose-name-shall-forever-remain-unspoken did to her. Which wasn't nice or fair to a loving man like Chris.

"I am sorry—"

"It's my—"

They spoke simultaneously, then they froze, eyes widened as they took in each other. Lee saw the hopeful look beneath that scared expression. She wanted to bring it back to life.

"You go first—"

"You go first—"

They broke off again, when they spoke at the same time. It was weird, but not in a bad way. It meant they were on the same page here. They stared at each other for few minutes, then they started laughing. Chris seemed to relax a little then. He even leaned into the sofa, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of the world had been resting on them were suddenly lifted.

"How did we end up this way?" Chris asked, his gaze on the TV mounted on the wall.

It was a rhetoric question, but she answered anyway. "It is my fault. The last time we saw and spoke to each other, I broke up with you hours after we declared our love."

Chris sat up straighter as he met her probing eyes. "You had just lost your father. You were hurting, I totally understand that."

"It doesn't excuse the way I acted toward you and everyone I love." She shook her head. "Dr. Armand, my therapist, said I used my pain as an excuse to push people away because I was scared of being hurt. Now, I know that she is telling the truth."

"I wasn't a saint either, Ledia. At the very first fight we had, I bailed on you. All I could think of was how it was similar to the way Silvia broke up with me." He shook his head. "I was also selfish."

"We were both selfish," she said firmly. "We were both wrapped up in our fears and pains that we almost lost what's the most important thing."

"What's that?"

"Love." Lee tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you, Christopher, please forgive me."

"Forgive me too, Ledia. I was so stupid that I almost lost you."

Lee smiled now. "Chris, I have been thinking so much about a lot of things during my stay in the hospital. I don't want to feel that horrible emptiness I felt for weeks, again. My therapist suggests I try to talk and share my fears and my doubts with you, if we want to have a relationship in the future, which is why I am here now."

"I have something to say too, Ledia. But I would allow you to say what is on your mind." He turned so that he was fully facing her now. "I promise you that I will always listen whenever you have something to say."

"Thank you."

Lee's heart felt full from hearing those words from him. Maybe they will figure it out as they go, just as long as they were in the future together.

"I was scared of you hurting me after what happened with April earlier that evening. When I got the call about my father, the fear increased and all I could think about was that you were either going to leave me like my exes did or you were going to die like my parents did. The only thing I could think of was pushing you away before I got hurt.

"I now realise that life is full of risks. Nobody knows what tomorrow would bring, so we have to make the best of today. The thought of not spending the rest of my life with you filled me with so much pain, and I told myself I had to try to reach out to you to see if I still hold a place in your heart, no matter how small it is."

Before she could blink, Chris was already sliding across the sofa and pulling her into his arms. Lee rested her head against his chest, feeling as though she'd finally come home.

Chris crushed her to his chest as if he never wanted to let her go and she clung to him with the same desperation. She felt wetness seep into her hair, but what surprised her was the answering wetness soaking the front of Chris's shirt.

She wasn't broken after all.

Lee grinned through her tears, only pulling back in the circle of Chris' arms to take in her lover's wet, but relieved, face. All the shadows that seemed to cloud his eyes earlier had finally evaporated. Lee laughed through her tears.

"I am not broken, Chris. I can still cry." She buried her wet face against his warm chest. "It feels like I am finally alive again!"

"Ditto, Ledia. It feels like a dream, having you here in my arms." He breathed into her hair. "Those days apart from you felt like hell. I took my pain and anger out on your brother in-law and called you awful names behind you. I am truly sorry, Ledia. Please forgive me."

She nodded against his chest, sighing in content. "We have a lot to forgive each other for and we have a lot to work on. What matters is that we will be doing it together."

"Yes." He laughed.

The sound filled Lee's belly with sunshine and butterflies. It felt so good to be with him again. There was no doubt that Chris was the one for her.

Lee felt the change in Chris when his body coiled tightly and his shoulders seemed to slump. She pulled away from his chest to look at him. The fear and anguish she saw on his face nearly did her in. She moved out of his arms.

Chris removed his hands from around her and moved until there was space between them. Lee stared at him, confusion taking the dominant role of the emotions running through her.

"Chris, you're scaring me. What is it?" She searched his face, hoping to find the answer.

Chris turned his face from her, his body tensing up the more. He looked as if he was going to flee from the room at any given moment.

"Did I come at a bad time?"

He shook his head. "Lee, i-i did something and I. . . don't know if you'll ever forgive me."

"Chris," she said, pressing a hand to her stomach to stop the churning it in. "You're scaring me, please."

"Ledia, that night I came to see you in the hospital, I was drunk. After my fight with Carson, I drove back home. Then when I got to my door, I saw a woman." Chris gulped audibly, his shoulders hunching and his head hung down in shame. "I thought she was you, I swear. I remember going into my room and calling your name. She undressed me and tried to sleep with me, but I passed out."

Lee's first instincts was flight.

Oh, how she itched badly to runaway and forget she ever knew Christopher Ross because it seemed she was bound to get hurt when it came to him. But she forced herself to remain still while staring at Chris' anguished form. He was really suffering for whatever happened with the strange woman. Lee was a bit stronger now, and there was no way she was running away from her problems. If there was any hope of solving them.

"What happened next, Chris?"

"When I woke up the next day, I saw April in my bed. I was so shocked and angry at myself for betraying you like that. When I told her to leave, she showed me the pictures she'd taken, Lee. All of them with she and I in various explicit scenes. She threatened to publish the pictures online, to show them to you if I didn't agree to marry her in six days."

Lee sucked in a sharp breath. "That bitch! I knew there was something wrong with her after she accosted me in the bathroom at the Jazz bar that night."

Chris turned to face her, a frown on his face. "She approached you at the Jazz bar? Why didn't you tell me?"

"That's because I didn't know her at the time! I thought she was one of your jealous exes. She told me to watch my back, that you were not for me."

Chris' frown deepened. "Which explains why you looked so upset that night." He nodded, his lips pursed. "The wedding is in two days, Ledia. My father and Dom said the pictures were taken by a third party, because I was passed out. I wasn't aware of her actions, Ledia." Tears filled in his eyes.

It was Lee's turn to move across the sofa and pull him into her arms until his head was nestled on the soft pillows of her breasts. "It's okay, Chris. That bitch took advantage of you when you were conscious which is literally rape. She will suffer for it, I promise. But you can't get married to her."

Chris shook his head. "No, Lee. The only woman I want to get married to is you." He sniffed. "I am so sorry, Ledia. I am so stupid. You tried to tell me."

"Shh." She smoothed his hair with her palm and dropped a kiss on his dark hair. "You're not stupid, Chris. You're kind and awesome. She took advantage of that."

"Thank you so much for staying with me, Lee. I thought I would finally loose you when you hear this."

"I am not going anywhere, I promise you." She kissed his hair again. "We will bring that awful woman to justice for what she did to you, I promise. It's going to be fine."

Chris let her hold him for few more minutes before leaning back. "Father says I have to play along until the wedding day, which means that we won't be able to see each other until we finally get proof and destroy the copies of the pictures she has."

Lee entwined their fingers together and kissed it. "We will do well, together I promise you. Don't worry, I will play along too, okay? She wouldn't suspect a thing."

Chris smiled through his tears. "I don't deserve a wonderful woman like you, Lee. You're too good for—"

Lee silenced him by pressing her lips to his own in a quick peck. She pulled back with a grin. "You talk too much, Chris. We deserve each other. That's that."

"Ledia." He sighed as he raised their joint hands to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "Thank you so much."

Ledia grinned. "Before we get carried away, I want you to know that I am p—"

Ledia was cut off by the sound of keys, and the turning of locks. Lee and Chris met each other's gaze.

"She's here." He mouthed to Lee.

Lee nodded quickly. "Follow my lead." She whispered, pecked his lips, and pulled away from him. Just as she got to her feet, April appeared at the entrance leading to the parlour.

"Look who we have here." April sneered at Lee, the bag she carried dropping to the floor at her feet.

Lee crossed her fingers behind her back and prayed that they pulled this off.

"You bitch!"

A/N:

Did I hear someone say, 'Uh oh?"

Yeah, well, shut is about to go down.

Ladies and gents, I have good news for you. Yeah? You guessed right.

There are two chapters after this one before the epilogue, which means we are almost at the end of this book.

After one wonderful year since I started it, abandoned and almost deleted it, this book is still here!!!!

Anyway, let's not talk too much. Onto the next chapter we go!

QOTC:  What do you think would happen next?

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