44
A few months later
“Ihave a surprise for you.”
“My eyes are closed. Don’t worry. Bring it on.” I laugh.
Helia’s surprises are always a little weird.
Helia and I have spent the past three months trying to figure out how to work and live between two places. I am not ready to give up the Torre mansion, and with Mum out of the picture, it’s only me living there, but Helia wants me to move in with him.
While I can keep the Torre mansion and still live with him, his home is too far away for me to travel back and forth every day into Central London. I have also been waiting for the right moment to ask him what we will do about the working conditions between us. I still want ownership of Glamorous, but Helia needs it to hide his cash for two years, and while it’s nearly a year since he has been sitting at the top, I don’t know what he will do in twelve months.
We really need to sit down to discuss it, but the past three months have felt like a fever dream, like a dark fairytale. We still fight. We disagree hard. Then we end up fucking it out. That’s one thing I love about us, because it gets intense, Helia grabs my throat and kisses the soul out of me.
Helia doesn’t love softly. He has more harsher sides to him than soft, though he has never made me feel anything but loved. Whenever I stay over at his house, he wakes me up with breakfast. I often walk out of the bedroom and find him shirtless, cooking for me, with Blaze zipping through the house, full of energy.
We run together through the forest near his home all the way to the cliff edge, where the small waterfall flushes out my worries, and Blaze has the time of his life shooting through the sky while we both catch our breath.
Sometimes, Helia joins me while I do yoga at the end of the day. His wandering hands always end the practise early, because he can’t keep his hands to himself and fucks me right then and there.
Life feels like life.
Like it’s worth living.
During the past few months, I haven’t had any thoughts of not wanting to live. I haven’t for one second thought I’m unlovable, and Helia has been there to support me on days I’ve felt down.
“You know, I want to come over today. I was thinking we could—”
“No.” Helia stops me.
I frown, my eyes still shut. “Why? You have been saying no for the past couple of weeks.”
“I told you; I am renovating some parts of the house, and it’s not safe for you to visit. I’m not even staying there at the moment.”
That doesn’t make sense.
“You can open your eyes now.”
The moment I do, I spot Blaze sitting on his shoulder in my driveway, tilting his cute head at me. Helia is wearing a black windbreaker with its hood on and black trousers. We both came back from the office a couple of minutes ago, but he told me not to go inside yet because he had a surprise.
With autumn now here, the skies are darker. Brown and orange leaves are scattered across wet pavements, and the sharp wind pierces my skin.
“What’s this?” I take the white paper he offers me, scanning the words.
When I finally register what this is, the paper shakes in my hand, and my breath falls in short, quick puffs.
“Helia… this…”
His eyes crinkle in the corner, his lips lifting in a smirk.
The emerald of his eyes glows as he watches tears form in my eyes. My knees weaken, and I drop to my knees, my hand in front of my mouth, eyes still on him.
“You gave me Glamorous?”
He drops to his hunches in front of me, his hands finding my cheeks, eyes trailing down my cheeks, following the tears.
“Don’t cry. Your makeup will get ruined.”
A laugh spills out of me. Placing the papers next to me on the pavement, I launch myself into his arms.
“Thank you,” I mumble into his neck, my heart racing.
“How will you hide your cash?” I lean back.
“I found myself another target. I couldn’t do this to you anymore. I want you to live out your dreams and not think I am using you for your company either.”
I shake my head. I trust him.
“Will you move after the next year is over?” I ask quietly.
Helia’s eyes feel magnetic the longer I look into them. I have found the closest colour of his eyes is an actual emerald. He has gifted me many emeralds now, and it has become my favourite precious stone.
“I may need to move every once in a while, but I will always come back,” he confesses, his eyebrows falling, his voice quiet.
“I’ll follow you. You know I will.”
He looks up at the sky as a thunder clap rumbles above us, then the faint smell of rain fills my lungs.
“I know you will. To hide my actual work, I will need to move around sometimes. We can travel around, visit any country you want—”
I kiss him.
The first drops of rain fall on us, and the wind ruffles my hair. I lean back and stand up, and Helia follows.
The next couple of droplets fall, and Helia turns to look for Blaze while I watch him.
He walks down the driveway, jogging towards the gate, where Blaze sits on top. Blaze shoots off and goes straight for the roof of the mansion, and Helia sighs, shaking his head as if tired of a child misbehaving.
If we were to have children, Helia will protect him or her just like he protects me.
I watch him walk back to me with a grin on his face, the rain drenching us both. He shakes his head to shake the rain out of his hair but to no avail. The rain comes down harder, and I smile at him.
He walks up to me, and I see my whole future with him.
I see him with me as we kiss at the altar. I see him with our kids. I see him with me as we travel; him hugging me whenever I feel down, and I see myself giving him my all.
Reaching me, Helia grabs my hand and retrieves the papers from the ground, then walks me inside our home. And I follow him, as I will for the rest of my life.
It’s you and me, Helia.