Chapter 23
Elowen
How could I have been so wrong in identifying him?
How could I have let someone deceive me like this?
Long before he even started lying, I was the one convincing myself he was Salvario.
Was I so desperate to escape the state I was in that I convinced myself that man was Salvario?
How will I face Salvario and tell him I gave his place to another man?
I don’t stop running until I reach the entry gate. Remi is standing there facing me, and a man is standing in front of him, his back to me.
He turns as I reach him. Nothing has changed. He looks exactly the same, except his hair is shorter. I don’t dare look into his eyes and run straight into his arms. He wraps me in his embrace.
“I’m sorry,” I sob against his chest.
“Princess.”
The word shatters me further. I cry harder.
“I’m sorry, Salvario.”
“Don’t cry, Princess.”
I pull away. “Where were you?” Accusation and pain splinter through my voice. Why didn’t he come sooner? Why didn’t he come before Hunter? Why didn’t he come when I was calling for him every second of every day?
He cups my face, wiping away my tears. “I’m sorry, Princess. I was held captive. I came to you as soon as I was released. It took me so long to reach you. I’m sorry.”
I pull his hands from my face. “I thought you were dead, but then—” My words stop. How do I tell him what happened next?
“Then?” He takes my hand in his, then looks down. I follow his gaze to the ring on my finger.
“You’re married?” he asks, frowning.
I pull my hand from his grip and rip off the ring, the flower on it cuts my skin as it comes off. I turn and throw it at the feet of the man who owns it. I knew he was here. I heard his footsteps, felt his unmistakable presence at my back.
“I thought he was you.”
Salvario looks up at Hunter, brows drawn tight in a frown, then turns his gaze back to me.
“It means nothing. Now that I know the truth, he means nothing. The marriage means nothing. I’ll file for divorce.”
My voice breaks as sobs choke me. “I’m so sorry, Salvario. I don’t know how I could have made such a mistake.”
Hunter
His eyes meet mine—same gray color, same shape, everything exactly the same.
What’s not the same is that mine hold a clear thirst for his blood.
I want to burn every place on his body that she is touching.
She already hates me; killing him won’t change anything between us.
He doesn’t hold my gaze for long and looks back at her.
I pick up the ring, slip it into my pocket, and walk beside them toward the entry gate. Her words follow me out, tearing my soul into smaller and smaller pieces.
“It means nothing. Now that I know the truth, he means nothing. The marriage means nothing. I’ll file for divorce. I’m so sorry, Salvario. I don’t know how I could have made such a mistake.”
With heavy feet and thousands of ways to kill the bastard playing behind my eyes, I reach Logan’s house. I unlock the door and step inside. Logan comes out of the kitchen, spatula in hand, wearing nothing but boxers.
He frowns as soon as he takes in my face. He tosses the spatula aside and comes toward me.
“What happened?”
“He’s back.” My voice sounds like a wasteland.
“What? How? I couldn’t find him, and now he’s just here? How the fuck did this happen?” He’s been trying to track his exact location for the past two months but hasn’t been able to. He caught sight of him a few times in different cities, but that’s all they’ve got.
“I don’t know.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know.” One thing is clear, I’m not letting her go. Even if the only way to keep her means chaining her to me, I’ll do it.
“Will you let her go?”
“It’s not possible.”
Keeping her with me might be the most difficult thing, but it’s not impossible, unlike living without her, which is. Since the night I saw her on that balcony, the possibility of a life without her has ceased to exist.