Begging for a Second Chance (Sienna Sloan and Jarred Sterling) novel Chapter 323

...then there would have been no marriage. No messy entanglements, no endless cycle of disappointment, and she certainly wouldn't have dragged Luna down with her.

Jarred listened quietly to her volley of accusations. His dark eyes remained bottomless and utterly calm as he replied in a flat, emotionless tone. "I don't love her."

Once upon a time, Sienna might have believed such absolute certainty.

But Celeste kept reappearing in their lives, over and over, every single time fueled by his silent permission and boundless indulgence.

Those four words now sounded more insulting than the worst possible lie.

Jarred stared at her trembling shoulders, watching the light completely shatter in her eyes, and a wave of agonizing regret crashed over him.

He quickly stripped off his suit jacket and draped it over her. "The wind is cold tonight. Let's just go home."

"That's not what I want to hear."

Sienna squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, her sharp gaze pierced straight through him like twin daggers.

"I'm only going to ask you one last time, Jarred. Are you absolutely dead set on protecting Celeste?

No matter how much evil she commits? No matter how she's manipulated you?"

Jarred stared deeply into her eyes, seeing the sheer devastation swimming in them. His Adam's apple bobbed.

His voice was gravelly, weighed down by an endurance no one else could comprehend. "From the very beginning, the only person I have ever wanted to protect is you.

But it seems you neither need it nor care for it."

Sienna scoffed, her eyes dropping to freezing temperatures as she met his gaze. "You want to protect me? Simple. Go arrest Celeste right now."

A shadow crossed Jarred's face, though it vanished in a fraction of a second.

His eyes quickly returned to their impenetrable calm, and his tone took on an almost terrifyingly refined cadence.

"Are you willing to trade Luna for it?"

The air inside the cabin seemed to freeze solid at those words.

Sienna felt the blood turn to ice in her veins.

She stared at those exceptionally callous eyes.

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