Chapter 43

After almost half a minute of embracing each other, I gathered enough strength to slowly push him away and free myself from his embrace.

Before breaking away from his hug, I wiped away my tears, making sure he wouldn’t see that I was still crying. As I pulled away, I took a deep breath and spoke, “There’s no future if I tell you how I truly feel, Raven. No matter how I look at it, this is wrong… completely wrong.”

He shook his head, “Les… Lianna’s already dead. And… and I’m sure… she will understand this. I’ll tell her everything…”

“No… you must never tell Lianna about this.” I choked on my words, taking a deep breath. It’s frustrating how I couldn’t stop my tears from falling no matter how hard I tried.

“Never… ever tell Lianna about this, Raven…” I repeated, “We had conditions, and one of them is that I can’t have a relationship with you beyond friendship.”

“Lianna will understand this, Les. I swear… I know her.”

“We don’t know that, Raven!” I c