“Never! I didn’t mean it,” he said savagely. “They were lies, Venus. Terrible, ugly, necessary lies I told thinking I was protecting you from my world. Oh God, if I could only go back, if I could only have that day back. I would have made certain you were never involved, never exposed like that. In my arrogance, I thought I could keep you safe and separated from that aspect of my life. It’s a mistake I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. I know you can never forgive, but God, please, I’m begging you. Give me the chance to explain, to try to make you understand the world I live in. A world I should have never allowed you into, but I could no more deny myself your sweetness and light than a starving man could refuse food and water. My goddess, you were—are—the only good thing in my
