Lies That Bind

Chapter Seventeen

S A R A

"It wasn't my choice to marry you," Ty says flatly.

Wasn't his choice? What does that mean?

He takes a deep breath and looks between Krissy and I, taking in our mutual confusion. "The board of my dad's company forced my hand. They made it very clear that if I wanted to take over as CEO I needed to marry someone. And in their words, 'Who better for optics than the daughter of the man who had just signed a merger?'"

My hand smacks over my mouth in an attempt to cover up a gasp at his confession and Krissy's eyes spill the tears she had been trying to hold back.

"Did you know about this?" Krissy asks, looking over at me.

I shake my head. No, I'm just an awful best friend who decided to fuck your husband over and over again for the last five years for my own pleasure because I'm a selfish, horny, bitch.

"I never should have let it happen. I should have gone to another firm and worked my way up, but I-" he pauses, cursing at himself under his breath, "I was selfish. I had worked so fucking hard to prove myself to my dad and the board that I couldn't let it all slip away from me."

He takes a cautious step toward Krissy which she surprisingly allows and then takes another so he's toe to toe with her. "Krissy, I'm sorry," he says as he reaches for her hand, covering it with both of his, "I'm so fucking sorry that I lied to you about what this was. I thought you would have left my pathetic ass long before now. I never thought you would have agreed to date me, let alone marry me, when you knew h-"

"How you felt about Sara," she interrupts him, a lump the size of Texas forming in my throat as the words leave her mouth.

He steals a glance at me over his shoulder, "Yeah," he sighs, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth and my heart pounds in my chest.

"So what happens now?" Krissy sniffles. "What are we supposed to do?"

Ty cups her cheek and wipes a tear away, "That depends on you, Kris. I won't ask you to stay in a marriage that's a lie. It's not fair to you. I've been such a fucking dick and I don't blame you if you want to go to the press and your dad and tell them about all of this. The lie that is our marriage, the affair, how I've been the world's shittiest husband, all of it. I want you to do what's best for you, no matter what the cost to me."

"No. No, that's not-" Krissy blows out a shaky breath, looking up at Ty, "As much as I hate you right now, I could never take all that away from you, Ty. You've worked too hard for it. What we have may never have been fully real for you, but it was for me. And I know that the lies and the cheating should make me want to run for the hills, but knowing you would give up everything you've worked for tells me that at least a small part of you does love me. Even if an even bigger part of you loves her."

"I do. I do love you, Kris," he admits, "But how are we supposed to fix this? We can't just act like none of it ever happened."

"We figure out something that works for both of us," she says. "Well, all of us," she corrects herself as she flicks her eyes to me.

All of us?

"Am I included in all of us?" Alec butts in, "Because if you're suggesting some kind of fucked up love square thing, count me in."

Krissy rolls her eyes and I can't help but let out a laugh.

Her and Alec really need to fuck away their hate for each other.

"Technically a love pentagon if we're including pretty boy," Alec adds, earning a disapproving look from James, another eye roll from Krissy, and a chuckle from Ty.