Chapter ONE - Weebly

think that you’ll find any excuse to see her.”
She looked up at him once more, still smiling, as if
she wished to soften what she had said.
“I don’t love her,” Ethan said. “I did once, but I
don’t anymore.”
“Do you love me?”
The question hung between them. Ethan started to
answer, then stopped himself. He wanted to tell her that
he did. He knew that he cared about her more than he
did anyone else in the world, and he wanted to tell her
that. But it wasn’t what she had asked.
The truth was Ethan didn’t know if he could love
anyone anymore. He had loved once and that love had
been ripped from him, along with his freedom and his
pride and his ambition. His heart had been lashed day
after day, month after month, for more years than he
cared to count. The scars remained; they had grown
hard, like calluses on a worker’s palm. He didn’t think
they would ever soften.
“What I feel for Marielle is similar to what I feel for
my father,” Ethan said.
Kannice raised an eyebrow.