Act Like You Love Me (Jessica) novel Chapter 110

Chapter 110

Aaron’s POV

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As I spilled the whole story-Adrian, Jessica, the misunderstanding-Dave listened without interrupting.

He poured us both drinks from the bottle of whiskey he kept on the side table, the amber liquid sloshing into tumblers like some half-assed attempt at liquid courage.

The burn down my throat matched the fire in my gut, but it didn’t dull the edges of the pain.

I leaned back on the couch, staring at the ceiling fan whirring lazily overhead, its blades cutting through the stale air like my thoughts slicing through the mess of the night.

When I finally ran out of words, I raked my fingers through my Hair, tugging at the roots as if that could pull the chaos out of my head.

“How could she do this to me, Dave?” I croaked, my voice raw from the tears and the yelling earlier at the hospital.

The silence that followed was wrong. It wasn’t the silence of a friend processing a shock; it was a heavy, suffocating stillness. It was unlike Dave.

Normally, he’d be cracking a joke, throwing in some sarcasm to lighten the load, but he just sat there, swirling his drink, his eyes fixed on the glass.

I glanced over, and that’s when I saw it. Guilt. Plain as day, etched into the lines of his face, the way his jaw tightened.

I knew that look. It was the same one I’d seen every time I’d brought up Jessica’s disappearance over the last six years.

My heart thudded against my ribs, a warning drumbeat. David and Jessica had always been close-friends through me, yes, but bonded over shared laughs and the easy match of similar personalities.

It wouldn’t shock me if… No. I pushed the thought back, though suspicion still gnawed at me.

“Did you know about this?” I asked, counting each word carefully my voice vibrating with barely contained anger.

Dave exhaled, a long, weary sound, and finally shook his head.

“I didn’t know she had a son, Ron. I swear on my life, if I’d know she was pregnant, I would never have let her go.”

I watched him, my eyes narrowing as the confusion in my gut sharpened into a cold, lethal clarity.

The room felt smaller, the faint cries of night crickets sounding innervingly loud in the quiet.

“Dave?” I called his name like a challenge, the syllable heavy with a threat I didn’t even know I was making. “You knew why she left? You’ve known this entire time?”

He didn’t answer with words, his silence did the talking.

He wasn’t looking at me anymore, his gaze glued to the expensive carpet under our feet, his toes tracing the faded patterns like they held some escape.

He couldn’t face the fury building in my eyes, and that avoidance fueled it.

“Yes, Ron,” he finally admitted, his voice low and resigned. “That day when she saw you-or thought she did—I came into your room to get… something. She was wrecked, man. She told me everything.”

I didn’t care about the explanation. The betrayal hit like a sucker punch, and before I could think, my fist flew.

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09:41 Mon, Jan 26 GBB.

Chapter 110

It connected with his jaw, a solid thud that reverberated in the quiet room.

Dave groaned, his head snapping back against the sofa, but he didn’t fight back.

He just sat there and took it, a slow trickle of blood appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He knew he deserved it. He knew he’d hurt his cousin. Blood family, the one guy who’d always counted on him.

I scrambled to my feet, my chest heaving, my hand curled back to hit him again.

I watched him close his eyes, waiting for the second strike, his face a mask of resignation.

I held it there, my muscles screaming, the rage boiling in my blood-and then I stopped. I couldn’t do it.

“I’m sorry, brother,” Dave muttered, his voice thick with guilt.

“I had to. She was terrified. If you were in my shoes, you would have done the same for a friend.”

“No!” I roared, the sound echoing off the walls of his living room

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“I wouldn’t have! Because I’m not a fucking coward, David! For six years… six years you watched me die a little bit every day. You saw me waste millions on private investigators. You saw me drink myself into a stupor because I thought she was dead or worse. All you had to do was tell me she was okay. All you had to do was tell me the truth!”

His face was grim, shadowed under the dim lamp light, a bruise already blooming on his cheek.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

I scoffed, a ragged, broken sound that barely left my lips.

The room, my supposed sanctuary, felt smaller, suffocating, as if the walls were turning against me.

“Just when I thought I had one person,” I whispered, my voice trembling with a different kind of pain. “One person who would never betray me.”

“Ron, wait-”

I didn’t wait. I couldn’t be in the same zip code as him. I stormed out, the door slamming behind me with a force that rattled the windows.

I threw myself into the car and slammed my palms against the horn, over and over, the blaring sound drowning out the silence of the suburbs.

A dozen times, twenty times…I didn’t stop until my hands ached

I gripped my head, my fingers digging into my scalp as I double over the steering wheel.

A guttural, animal scream tore out of my throat, raw and agonizing, echoing inside the cabin of the car.

I was the King of the city, a man who had everything, and yet I was sitting in the dark, realizing I had been surrounded by liars for half a decade.

I had a son. And I had no one else.

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