After The Dark (Billionaire In Love 3) Read Online Free Page A

nothing you can do about it.”
    “But it's so hard. We were so good together and then he had to go and ruin it. Maybe I should give him the chance to explain? I'm just so afraid that he'll lie to me again. How can I trust him?”
    “Sometimes these things take a leap of faith. It's never easy giving your heart to someone, but the fact that you're so torn up about it tells me that you have deep feelings for this man. You're talking about him in a way that you never talked about Matt, or anyone else. You really love him, don't you?”
    Scarlett's eyes glistened as she nodded. “Yeah, and I hate it. I wish it could be easier.”
    “I thought you'd have known by now that life is never easy,” Janice said, chuckling. She reached out a hand and placed it on Scarlett's, squeezing it softly. “Look, you're a smart girl and I've watched you grow into a strong woman over the years. You've always had a good head on your shoulders, so I know you'll make the right decision. But right now, it seems to me that you really have two choices. Either you forget about him completely and move on, or you hear him out. Being stuck halfway between isn't doing you any good and it's only going to make the situation drag out.”
    Scarlett knew her mother was right, but it meant that she had to make a decision, and that was one thing she wasn't sure she was ready to do. It either meant putting her heart on the line, ready to be broken, or saying goodbye to the only man she had ever truly loved.
    “Did you and Dad ever go through anything like this?”
    “No... no, not really. We got together so young that we never had the chance to do anything that would be secret from each other. We both made a conscious effort to share things. Sometimes we had to tell each other things we rather wouldn't, but when it came down to it, talking these things through always brought us closer. I think secrets just create distance between people, and Jack should have been honest with you from the start.”
    Scarlett's skin crawled for she knew that she was being dishonest to her mother by not telling her that Jack's wife was the other driver. Could she blame Jack for keeping that from her? She tried to imagine how she would have reacted had Jack told her straight away, but she couldn't put herself back in that situation. Too much had happened now, too many emotions had exploded within her. And now, when she thought of the night her sister died, there was no longer a faceless driver coming in the other direction. It was another person, another life, and somehow the rivers of fate had contrived to bring her and Jack together after all those years.
    “I've missed this,” her mother said, smiling softly. The light of the moon danced in her eyes, and in the tired illumination of the night Scarlett realized how old her mother looked. Taking care of Steve, and the stress and worry that came with it, had aged her dramatically.
    “Me too.”
    “I know that you had to leave but sometimes I wished that you had stayed. I hate the way time moves on without any thought or consideration. But I'm glad you didn't go traveling after Lisa left us. I think that would have killed your father and I.”
    “I thought about it, but there was no way I was going to leave you. Do you think Lisa would be proud of me, of the life I lived?”
    “Scarlett, your sister worshiped you. She would have been proud of you no matter what.”
    “I don't know about that. She always wanted to do different things than me.”
    “And why do you think that was? She knew that she could never be as good as you, so she went in the complete opposite direction. She wanted to do all the things that you wouldn't, so that when it came down to it, the two of you had lived a complete life. You should really have been twins. You were so close.”
    “I know... sometimes I think... oh god... is it really bad that sometimes I wish it had been me in that car instead of her? I just think that she would have really thrown