“ I couldn't hate you, Tessa.”

Her lips parted slightly.

For a moment she simply stared at him, searching his face like she was trying to find the lie hidden somewhere in his expression. The softness in his voice felt wrong, too wrong after everything he had said to her earlier.

But the way he looked at her, as if he was indeed telling the truth, made her brows draw together.

“ That's funny,” she said, a ridiculous chuckle threatening to slip out of her. “ Because you have a very strange way of showing it.”

He drew in a deep breath and blinked his eyes slowly. “ About this...