14#14

14

"Wait, Kade!" she pleaded, hastily exiting the vehicle. "Freya was never good enough for you. I only wanted to make you realize that!"

I moved nearer, my amber gaze meeting hers directly. "Do you truly believe you're worthy of me? Did you think you could meddle with the one I'm bound to and escape without consequences?"

Startled, Lila snapped her gaze upward, her complexion ashen. "Kade?" she uttered in disbelief.

"Respond to me this instant!"

She recoiled, her weeping intensifying. "It was all because of my feelings for you," she cried out, "I'm in love with you!"

"Affection?" I growled, my tone dropping dangerously low. "True affection doesn't control others. It doesn't undermine or destroy. And it certainly doesn't turn its back on those it claims to care for."