My heart hurt hearing all of this, but I needed to know everything. "Why did you make up that whole contract thing if you didn't care for me then? Why make me stay here if you didn't even like me?"
He quickly stood and moved toward me, his eyes filled with pain. "That's not true. I did like you and I fell in love with you. I love you, Nina. I'd never do anything to hurt you intentionally. Please believe me."
"But why, Tristan? Why bring me here?"
Letting out a deep sigh, he said, "When my father died, there were still people in the company who had been part of what happened. I realized right after meeting you that they think you have information your father left you that can implicate them. I couldn't stop them from killing your father, Nina, but I could stop them from hurting you. So I came up with the contract and made it a requirement that you live here so I could always watch out for you, either myself or Jenson and Rogers. I figured if I had six months, I could find a way to make sure they knew you had nothing on them."
"And you figured I'd just jump at the chance to live in this great house with you?" I snapped. "Poor, pathetic girl who loved art. It couldn't be hard to convince her to live in a place like this with someone like you, right?"
He cupped his hands against my cheeks. "It wasn't like that. Please listen to me."
"Your father killed my father and you've known every moment you've been with me. How can I believe anything you say to me?"
"Nina, I'm begging you. Listen to me. It wasn't like that. I fell in love with you like you fell in love with me." Tristan's dark eyes pleaded with me as he tried to make me believe him. "This doesn't change anything. I love you. Please tell me you love me."
That was the problem. I did love him. I adored him. If I didn't, then everything he'd just said wouldn't have hurt so much. My heart felt like he was tearing it out of my chest, and the only one who could make me feel better had done the damage.
"Tell me this wasn't some charity thing, Tristan. Tell me that even though I wasn't of your level that you didn't see me like that."
"Never. I never thought of how much money you had or didn't have. It didn't matter."
"Spoken like someone who's always had money. And the test at your penthouse? Why?"
"I can't help who I am, Nina. The doctors say it's probably because of the accident, but I don't trust easily anymore."
"Then why did you return the next night if I obviously hadn't passed your test?" I asked, afraid to hear his answer.
Quietly, he said, "I found out you were in danger. I couldn't let them hurt you like they'd done to your father."
"Did you even like me, Tristan? We slept together that night," I sobbed, the pain of this whole thing settling into my mind.
He leaned down to kiss me, but I turned away.
"I did like you from the moment I began talking to you that night after the art show. You weren't like anyone I'd ever met. I wanted to try to be someone you would want."
"And what about all the possessive stuff? The feeding me. The bringing that couple here for me to paint for you. All that business about you not wanting other men to see me like you do? Was that all because of some faceless people wanting to hurt me?"
He shook his head slowly. "No. I've always been that way. I won't apologize for that, Nina. You're the woman I love, so it's my responsibility to take care of you. It's who I am."
I looked down at the gorgeous diamond ring on my left hand and then back up at him. "When did you love me, Tristan? When did you stop seeing me as someone you could help or protect and really fall in love with me?"
I let him kiss me tenderly, and he pressed his forehead to mine. "Don't do this to us. I love you. You're everything to me, Nina. Don't do this."
I heard all his words but could only focus on the ones he didn't say. I didn't want to be someone's charity case, even one for someone I loved more than I'd ever thought I could love a man.
Pulling away, I backed up toward the door. "You've lied to me from the moment I met you. How can I believe what you're saying now? How do I know the last six months haven't been about making you feel less guilty for the awful thing your father did to my family?"