A VOW FOR VENGEANCE

Chapter Seven: Flowers From A Liar

Hanna's POV

I told him to meet at the garden, not the mansion. If Lucas wanted a scene, he was not getting one in front of Isla.

He was already waiting when I got there, holding a bunch of white roses in one hand, dressed as though he had planned this down to the button on his shirt. He smiled the second he saw me.

"You came." He held the roses out. "I was not sure you would."

I did not take them. "You said you would show up at the mansion if I did not."

"I meant it." He set the roses on the bench between us instead, gently. "But I would rather do this quietly. You deserve that much, after everything."

"After everything I did, you mean."

"After everything that happened." He sat down, leaving space, like he knew not to crowd me. "I know I hurt you at the party. I know I did not handle any of it right."

"You did not ask if I was okay, just if we could talk somewhere private before anyone else noticed." I held his eyes. "That was never about me, Lucas."

"I panicked." His voice cracked slightly. "You stood up in front of two hundred people and said you did not love me. I did not know what else to do."

"You knew exactly what to do. You did it. You tried to move me out of the room before I could say anything else."

“I am sorry, Hanna.”

"I am sorry for how I ended things too," I said. "Making such a big scene in front of your family and mine. That was not fair to you, and I wish it had not happened that way."

His shoulders eased, hope moving fast across his face.

"But I am not sorry it is over," I said. "I meant every word I said that night. I do not love you, Lucas. I do not think I ever really did."

The hope drained back out of him just as fast as it came. "You do not mean that."

"I do."

"Hanna." He shifted closer on the bench. "Do you remember our first date? The little place on Fifth Street, the terrible service, the good wine. You spilled your drink on my shirt and laughed so hard you could not apologize properly." His voice softened. "I fell for you that night. I have never once stopped."

"I wish that had meant as much to you as it did to me."

"It meant everything to me."

"That day all you brought up was about my family and my company.” I paused. “And Mia.” I watched his face for a particular reaction to the name, Mia.

His hand went still on the bench between us. Just for a second, his eyes flicked toward the garden gate before he brought them back to me.

"What does Mia have to do with any of this?"

"Nothing. I am just saying." I kept my voice light. "You always mentioned her when we went on dates, I am only just realizing that now."

"Well she is my sister-in-law…"

“Was.” I quickly cut him before he could finish.

“Hanna,”

I let it go there. Whatever he was hiding behind Mia's name was not going to come out today, and pushing now would only teach him to hide it better.

“Lucas please don’t.”

"Maybe this is not really about me," he said. "Maybe you are just scared. Committing to one person for the rest of your life is a lot, Hanna. I understand if that frightens you."

"It does not frighten me."

"It is okay if it does." He reached for my hand. "I am not going anywhere. I will wait until you are ready to trust this again. However long that takes."

"You should not wait for me, Lucas." I said, gently pulling my hand away from his.

"I want to."

"That is your choice." I said, standing. "But I will not pretend it is going to end how you are hoping it will."

He stood too, gathering the roses off the bench, and opened his mouth to say something else when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

I pulled it out without thinking, and the name on the screen stopped me cold.

Stefan.

Lucas's eyes dropped to the phone before I could turn it away. "Who is that?"

"Nobody you know."

"You went pale."

"I did not." I silenced the call and slid the phone back into my pocket. "It is a work matter."

"You do not work, Hanna."

"I do now." I held my hand out for the roses. He hesitated a beat too long before he gave them to me, watching my pocket. "I have to go. This is important."

"We were not finished."

"We are finished for today." I stepped back toward the garden gate. "I will call you."

He did not move right away, and I could feel him watching me the whole way to the gate. I did not give him the chance to ask again. I slipped through, out of his sight, and only then did I pull the phone back out and call Stefan back.

He picked up on the second ring, and the noise behind him hit me before his voice did. Music, loud and thumping, glasses clinking somewhere close to the phone.

"Hannaaa." He drew my name out longer than it needed to be. "You picked up."

"You called me."

"Did I?" He paused, then I heard a laugh that did not belong to him. "Guess I did. Guess what, Hanna. Guess what I am doing right now."

"I do not know, Stefan. What are you doing right now?"

"I am at a club." Another laugh, closer to the phone, like he had pressed it right against his mouth. "With some girls, very nice girls. One of them thinks my name is Stephen. I did not correct her. It felt rude."

"Stefan, why are you calling me about this?"

"Because you are my wife." He said it like it was the funniest thing he had said all night. "My wife should know where I am. That is what wives do, right? Keep track of things? You are very good at keeping track of things, Hanna. You kept track of my whole life before we even met."

"Stefan…"

"I told the girl I am married," he said, cutting straight over me. "She laughed. She thought I was joking. I am not joking. I have a wife and she scares me a little. Honestly, in a good way, I think, well I have not decided yet…"

A crash tore through the line, glass shattering against something hard, followed by a burst of shouting and laughter that was not his.

My whole body went still. "Stefan?"

Nothing. Just noise, more glass sliding somewhere behind him, a woman laughing so hard I could not tell if something was wrong or if everyone around him just thought it was funny.

"Stefan!" I said again, louder. The roses slipped out of my hand and hit the path. "Are you there? Say something."

For three long seconds, nothing came back at all.