“I didn’t when you targeted me as your in to destroy my family,” she returned immediately and unfortunately fucking accurately, going on the same way, “I can only assume you knew I had no dealings with that. You could, I’m sure, perform for a woman who was simply a tool. If you thought I had a part in trafficking humans and murdering your girlfriend, not even you could set that aside so completely as to perform so convincingly and repeatedly.”

He tried to stop her. “Liv—”

“And it didn’t matter to you that you were going to obliterate my world. I could not be tied to that heinous business but I was far from clean. If you took my father down, Georgia and I would go down with him. You sallied forth anyway, I meant that little to you. And of course you did. You didn’t know me. You only knew I was a Shade. So of course I would mean that little to you. Being what I am, it’s no surprise I mean that little to everybody.”

Fuck, she was killing him.

He had to fucking get in there.

“Baby—”

“Little did you know that all you would have had to do was approach me, share what had happened, and I would have been your insider ally, I’m so disgusted by just how despicable my father has proven that he is. And you can well imagine just how disgusted that is, with all I’ve shared with you during our artificial relationship, since I was already disgusted because I already thought he was extraordinarily despicable.”

“What we have is not artificial, Livvie,” he told her firmly.

“What we have is a lie,” she returned coolly. “Started on a lie, built on a lie, enduring on a lie and now, if you carry on with your bullshit, Sebring, ending on a lie. Now I think you’ve had your fun with me, I’ve definitely had my fill of you, so please, get the fuck out of my house right the fuck now.”

“Babe, plea—”

He stopped that time because, with no warning, she charged him. Slamming her hands into his chest and shoving hard, he heard her cry out in pain and whip one hand down before she retreated just as quickly as she came at him. She did this lifting an arm and raking her fingers through her hair so hard it was like she was tearing at it.

And she did all of this shouting, “Can you just stop? Can you just please God stop?” She shook her head, her eyes brightening with wet. “I can’t take anymore. I can’t take anymore. No more lies. No more schemes. No more using. No more orders. No more bullshit. No more! I cannot…take…anymore! God!” She tore her hand through her hair again. “I need you to go!”