Chapter 42: Shadows of Betrayal.

All the same, Chloe's legs threatened to go out from under her as the freight train of the truth slammed straight into her. Betrayal…from Liam. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She could only stare at him, horrified and numb, as the world seemed to crumble around her. Liam moved, pain carving into the strained lines of his body. "Chloe, please. Let me explain." His anguished plea barely registered. Hot tears blurred her vision, and she shook her head in frantic denial. "No, this can't be happening." Kane's mockery of a laugh could make the skin crawl off a leper. "Oh, but it is, sweetheart. Pretty boy, you should here's been playing you the whole time." He clapped Liam's shoulder with mock camaraderie. "You should've listened when we warned you about getting too close." Chloe flinched and pulled back, as though Kane's very touch had seared her. "Liam?" She hated how desperate her voice sounded—the pitiful hope in her that he might tell her this was all a nightmare. He fli