Chapter 28
The longer it takes for Blake to return, the queasier I become. Having trained for the last hour, sweat drenches Celine and me, but I don’t feel any better. I am physically drained, mentally fucked up, and on the verge of an emotional breakdown. I can’t stop thinking about what might have happened to Bailey.
Going back to my room, I take a shower. Water rains down my back, doing little to unknot my tense muscles. My routine has always helped me get my brain straight, but now it’s like I am a headless chicken flapping around.
I can’t find sleep as I toss and turn in bed, watching my phone for anything. Inertia is the killer of hope.
I must have drifted off to sleep sometime during the night because the sun’s rays poke at my eyelids. With a grunt, I open them. For a few seconds, I have trouble accepting the reality that Bailey is not next to me and I am still trapped in the unknown.
Picking up my phone, I don’t see a new text from her, and my heart dips into my stomach, burning in the acid of my anguish.
I am about to call her and demand answers when a ruckus breaks out on the other side of my bedroom door. I storm into the hallway, my heart pounding with worry, and find the group gathered around Blake. His sharp gaze finds me, the silence stretching to unbearable.
“Where is Bailey?” I ask him, even though all I want to know is why she’s not here.
“At the estate,” Blake replies, his voice heavy and serious.
“What did she want?” You and not me .
“To tell me something.”
“What?” Kaden interjects. Blake shifts his gaze to him, and in those seconds it takes for him to respond, the room is so quiet we can hear each other breathing.
“That she’s my sister.”
Celine’s jaw drops. “Your what?”
A line digs between Mia’s brows. “But how?”
“It actually makes sense…” Abi says more to herself.
Dane scratches the back of his neck. “You all come from one fucked up family.”
If I weren’t in such a sour mood, I would have cracked a smile at that.
As we move into the kitchen, we sit down and I stare at the empty seat. Her absence guts me.
“Why isn’t she here?” I ask, curling and uncurling my hands at my sides.
“She isn’t allowed anymore. She has to live at the estate for a while,” Blake murmurs, his voice tight with tension. Getting words out of this guy is like pulling teeth without anesthesia.
“Why?” Kaden asks, and I am grateful. It’s getting harder for me to speak, the weight of dread swelling in my throat like cotton.
“She has to do something she doesn’t want to,” Blake says, looking at me as if assessing my reaction. I am losing my mind and my shit by the second, and I cannot be bothered trying to hide it.
“She has to move forward with the engagement to Eric,” he finishes.
I hear the words blaring in my head and tearing at my sanity, but I refuse to accept them.
“She what?” No wonder she hasn’t replied and was so damn cryptic. If she thinks I will let this slide, she’s sorely mistaken.
I leap up from the chair, my insides boiling with anger. Blake and the rest of the group follow suit, with their gazes darting between us. Alert and ready to interfere.
A fucking army couldn’t keep me at bay.
“Don’t make it harder for her,” Blake says, his voice tight. “I understand you, man, but this is the only way.”
I slam a fist against my chest. “If the only way is for my woman to be engaged to someone else, then I will fucking raze this world until I find Felix on my own.”
“I’d help you do it if we had the slightest idea where he was hiding. But we don’t,” Kaden sighs, his jaw set in a hard line—some friends I have.
She’s too bloody good, that’s why. Because she would sacrifice herself for every one of us. I just fucking found a reason to live, and that is Bailey. I don’t care if that makes me selfish.
Everything in me screams to go to her and shake some sense into her. I am going to fucking kill Eric. Problem solved, and we’d just have to find another way to get our hands on Felix.
Celine wraps her hand around my elbow as if to hold me in place. “Hunter… don’t act on impulse.”
“You’re one to talk.” I huff.
“Watch how you talk to my woman,” Kaden warns.
I jerk my chin to him, daring him. “You shut up. Because if it were Celine in Bailey’s place, you wouldn’t have reacted any better.”
“This is not a competition. All of you just calm down,” Abi says in a high-pitched tone.
“What else did she say?” Mia asks Blake.
He clears his throat, looking from her back to me. “They’re going to be engaged officially on Friday night.”
In three days. Fuck. Not going to happen.
“How the hell are we supposed to keep him in check till then?” Dane asks the group, jerking his chin at me and raising a brow.
I am surrounded by damn hypocrites. I can’t stand being near any of them right now.
Without another word, I storm upstairs and lock myself in my room, afraid if I’d stayed down there a moment longer, I would have fought every last one of them.
What makes it even harder to digest is Bailey just made the decision without talking to me first, forcing me to accept it. I thought we’d be a team in everything.
I guess I was wrong.
Cramming my fist into my mouth, I muffle my screams so no one can hear my despair.
A soft knock breaks the silence. My door opens, and Celine peeks inside.
“I want to be alone,” I grumble.
“Alone in your head right now is the last place you should be.”
She’s stubborn as hell, so it doesn’t surprise me that she closes the door behind her and approaches me. “Talk to me. Please.”
“I’m not in the mood to talk.”
“Tell me how to help you, then.”
“No one can.”
Only Bailey, but she’s not here, and she’s not coming. I’ve faced loss in my life, but fuck, this wrecks me.
She places a hand on my back, speaking softly. “It’s fake, Hunter.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“I know, but if this works out, we’ll finally be free, and you’ll have a life to move past that.”
Embracing me from behind, my limbs go slack.
“Hold on to what you know in your heart,” she whispers.
“My heart is a scattered mess right now.”
“It will guide you if you just listen to it. Some truths are ingrained in us.”
I only know two truths: I love Bailey, and I’d die for my friends in a heartbeat. But I want her here with me. I can even accept this bloody engagement if she’s here. But no. That asshole knows what we have and just wants to end us. Fuck if he can.
I never wanted to kill someone with my bare hands—strangle them until the life drains from them—like I do him. I will fuck him up so good he will regret the day he thought he had a chance with my woman.
Thinking of Bailey, another punch of misery caves my chest in.
“She could have told me.” That’s what messes with my head the most.
“Bailey has the biggest heart. If you’re suffering, she’s even worse…”
And I can’t comfort her. In the beginning, I even doubted someone as pure as her could even exist. I expected it to be a ruse and that her mask would drop.
But that never happened. She’s genuinely good and self-sacrificing like that. And I am a selfish asshole who wants her all for myself.
“Everything is pointless without her.” I expel a breath choked full of the poison suffocating my insides.
Celine smiles understandingly at me as she drags me to the bed. I follow without resistance, the strength leaking out of my anxiety-ridden body.
Propped on our elbows, she says, “I think you’re fortunate.”
I snort, but she continues. “You’ve known everything from the start. That she loves you. That it’s all fake. Think of it as just another hurdle for you two—as a couple.”
Even if what she says sounds logical, it doesn’t make me feel any better. I am mad—so fucking mad that I’d want nothing more than to rip Eric’s limbs off, one by one, and stomp on them until he’s nothing but a bloody corpse.
“Promise me, you’ll behave during the engagement party. Please. Do it for her. Trust her.”
I trust her. I don’t trust that fucker.
“I’ll try.”
She kisses me on the cheek and leaves.
I barely have a moment of solitude to gather my thoughts before my phone rings. It’s Cassandra. I know what she wants even before she opens her mouth.
“Hunter, I’m aware this is difficult for you but do not take matters into your own hands. That is an order.”
While I would love to ignore her command, I can’t—bound by the rule to respect the matriarch’s demand.
I gnash my teeth. “Fine.” I’ll have to behave, even if I have to bleed myself dry to do that.
I hang up, the phone dropping from my hand, lifeless—just like me.
I hate these brutal shifts that always bring the biggest changes in your life. I survived my mother’s loss, and I overcame abuse. I will survive this fake pretend bullshit too.
Bailey is there. Even if not close to me, she’s in every heartbeat and every intake of air. I will fight for us. I’ll be there in the shadows, watching over her.
Memories of us flash before my eyes, a movie that ends on a cliffhanger. But they will help me sustain my faith until we can resume our love story.
***
I shove the button of my tuxedo into the tiny slit, and it’s a wonder I don’t crack it as I watch my phone ringing. It’s Bailey. I am afraid if I answer, my plan of behaving will poof in the air like smoke after a fired bullet.
I am so furious with her right now. I don’t want to say something I might regret. Each ring tugs at my heartstrings, tempting me to give in to the madness, but if I do, every exercise in self-control would have been for nothing.
I take all the suffering smothering my bones and focus on one goal: revenge.
As I take the stairs down, my friends eye me intently from the hallway.
“Let’s go,” I say, so done with them checking on me as if I’m a loose cannon ready to blow up and shatter our foundation.
While hopping into Kaden’s BMW, I keep reminding myself I can’t let my feelings show. Trying to compose myself, I clench and unclench my fists at my sides, letting my breaths fall out in a steady stream.
Kaden looks at me from the rearview mirror. “This won’t be for long.”
“And you know the truth,” Dane adds from my left.
They’re trying to encourage me, and I am grateful for their friendship, but pushing through is hard as fuck.
“Don’t hurt my sister, or I’ll hurt you even worse,” Blake threatens.
Dane’s brows furrow. “This is not awkward at all.”
“The Family,” Kaden says, and we all nod knowingly. And we’re the heirs. Lucky us.
Once we reach the estate, the guys trickle out of the car one by one, but I need a few seconds to steel my composure. Every fiber of my being trembles with this overwhelming urge to snap Eric’s neck and be done with the pretense.
Inhaling deeply, I tell myself that Bailey is mine. Just mine. But soon, she’ll wear someone else’s ring on her finger. Someone else will call her his fiancée. Squeezing my eyes shut doesn’t alleviate my dejection. On the contrary, keeping my cool borders on impossible. That picture plays like a horrific movie in my head, increasing my stress to dangerous levels. I wouldn’t be surprised if I had an aneurysm.
A knock on the window has me snapping my eyes open. Celine’s features soften into empathy, urging me to get out of the car.
“You can do this. If I could, so can you. I understand that it’s hard, but trust your love. Just think, this will all be over soon, and you can enjoy being together freely.”
With a sharp nod, I get out and straighten my tuxedo jacket.
Samuel lets us inside, and my gaze sweeps the entry, seeking Bailey. She’s nowhere in sight. The elegant ballroom hosts the guests, who chat and drink animatedly, which only spurs my unease. A quartet plays in the corner while women and men in black-and-white uniforms carry trays of appetizers and champagne glasses.
Fake would be something else, but everyone here expects an engagement to happen. My eyes clash with Eric’s. The bastard is wearing a smug expression and has the audacity to lift a glass of champagne in my direction.
Enjoy it while you can. It’s going to be me who’ll have Bailey in the end.
“Ignore him. He just wants to rile you up,” Kaden says, plucking two glasses from a passing tray and offering me one.
Sweat gathers at my nape with every second, and I’m just short of self-combusting. Everything is fucking wrong. I could so easily beat the shit out of him, kidnap her, and take her far away. I just got her, and now the dream feels like it’s slipping farther away while I try to hold on to it with a death grip.
“If that asshole looks at you one more time, I’m going to kill him,” Celine mutters, her voice laced with anger, echoing my state of mind.
Abi places a hand on my arm. “Let him think he won. It will be worth it when he realizes nothing he did could have kept you apart.”
She gazes at Dane, who pulls her to his side and says, “Nothing did. Nothing will.”
My sister has kept silent, eyeing me with obvious worry before she glares at Eric.
“If I can stay calm, so can you,” I tell Mia, and she huffs, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’d be really smooth and stealthy.”
“Silver, let’s postpone that revenge plan of yours until we find that asshole, Felix,” Blake says, leaning in to kiss her temple.
Surrounded by my friends who are next to their loved ones, longing spreads through me, leaving behind a desert only Bailey can turn into an oasis.
And then I feel her. My heart picks her up, reacting to her nearness and revving up my entire being. I turn, and she enters the ballroom with Cassandra at her side. It takes everything in me to stay in place. It helps that both Kaden and Blake have their palms planted on my shoulders.
Taking Bailey in, I swallow at the sight of her. She’s so beautiful I ache everywhere to kiss her, inhale her sweet scent, and bury myself so deep inside of her that we’ll never be separated again.
She’s wearing a black A-line, knee-length dress, and I smile at her choice. Though elegant, I’ve never seen her in that color. Her strawberry hair flows in curls down her back, revealing her slender neck, the necklace I gifted her decorating her chest. Her aquamarine eyes find mine, a torrent of emotions rippling in them.
Kaden and Blake’s grip on me tightens, and I snarl low. “Let go before I make a scene.”
They both release me, and I am the first to head over to greet the happy couple, our friends not far behind.
What do you say to the woman you love on the day of her engagement party to someone else? My brain and heart are in a permanent war, waging a bloodbath inside of me, leaving me to perish in the aftermath.
The rational part of me accepts that this is nothing in the grand scheme of things. The emotional side can’t tolerate it though—it won’t be my ring on her finger tonight.
“Ma’am,” I greet Cassandra and kiss her on her cheek.
“This is hard, but remember your duty.”
Family first and foremost. Just because the ruler changed doesn’t mean the legacy will become secondary.
I give a strained nod and move on to Bailey, who gulps, avoiding my glance.
“Look at me,” I demand, but my voice cracks at the end.
“I can’t,” she whispers.
Leaning in, I kiss the corner of her mouth, and she sucks in a breath. “You’re beautiful.”
“Even if I’m wearing black?”
I try for some levity. “Even if you were wearing a burlap sack. I hope you won’t wear black to our engagement.”
She looks up at me then. Time stands still for a moment, and we’re the only people in our little world.
“I’d wear red,” she murmurs.
Passion. Life. Love.
I can’t wait to see her like that. I give in to the visual, imagining that I adorn her finger with a diamond that matches her eyes.
A throat clears, dragging me back to reality and cutting off our moment. While my friends have already taken their positions next to the matriarch, I haven’t moved. Cassandra pins me with an intent stare, and I move next to her, completing the lineup.
I shake hands with Eric, applying bone-crunching pressure, and he lets out a small hiss. How I’d like to cut off every one of his fingers and shove them down his throat, choking him to death.
He takes her hand in his and lifts it to his mouth. I am going to break that hand, splinter his wrist, and then split that fucking mouth that kisses what is not his—with my bare hands.
I am inhaling gasoline, so much so that I half expect flames to come out of my nose. Shoving my balled fists into my pockets, I look straight ahead. Not being able to do what my entire being screams to do—claim what’s mine and shout it to everyone, daring them to come between us—fucks me up.
The ballroom brims with incessant chatter and laughter, the air thick with tonight’s celebration. The band plays classical music, the dark notes fitting my somber mood. If I stay here another second, I’ll do something reckless that would hurt the Family.
So I excuse myself and dash out.
The paintings and statues keep me company in the foyer as I stretch out my palm against the wall for support. A soft hand rests on my back, and Celine says, “I’m here for you. What do you need?”
Something she or anyone else can’t give me. Only Bailey.
It reminds me of when I had to console Celine at Kaden and Abigail’s engagement party. That’s how I feel, too—like I can’t breathe.
My muscles strain to the point that any move could snap them. Chest heaving, I breathe heavily through the despondency that becomes unbearable. This is what I get for falling in love, but it’s not like I could have prevented it. My brain is a jumbled mess.
“Her. I need her.” I sound like I feel—desolate.
“She almost ran after you just now. Help her out.”
That imperative need in me to make sure Bailey’s okay makes me dip my head in agreement. Celine and I walk side-by-side back into the ballroom. The music has shifted to something with more pep, right in time for Eric to escort Bailey to the dance floor.
Have we ever danced together? No. I will never get that first again. It’s gone.
Moving to a corner, I pluck another glass of champagne and sulk alone. My friends steal glances at me while heading to the parquet floor to dance. I am happy for them, while misery owns me.
My father approaches with Sebastian. Not in the fucking mood to talk, or do anything but glower, I greet them with a jerk of my chin. I’m living through the most horrible nightmare of my life, and I can’t do anything to stop it from running its course.
“How are you holding up, son?”
“Perfect.” My sarcasm isn’t lost on either of them.
Sebastian leans in and speaks low. “I waited fourteen years to be reunited with the woman I love. While it’s not a competition, patience is something you’ll have to learn.”
For a long time, I thought he was insane, searching for a woman with no concrete proof that she was alive. But now I understand him. I would have no life without Bailey, and I am sure if she’s not there, then everything else would be meaningless.
“I’ll behave. Stop with the intervention,” I tell them both through gritted teeth.
“He’s in love,” my father says, and they look at each other in silent companionship.
“And that makes any man a ticking bomb when the one he’s in love with is so near, yet so far away,” Sebastian adds.
I push myself off the wall, not interested in hearing their opinions.
Like a shadow, I move through the crowds, never letting Bailey out of my sight. She’s wearing her fake smile, a muscle in her jaw ticking from keeping it on that long. I can’t hold her nor assure her that we’ll be fine.
But will we? That nagging thought spills more acid on my brain, dissolving the synapses slowly.
I know it long before it happens. The music shifts to a soulful tune, the quartet playing a song steeped in romance. Even the chandelier lights dim, just like my hopes of this night being a fucked-up scenario my brain came up with in sleep.
The bastard takes her hand in his. My heart pounds, threatening to split my ribcage while I watch the carnage live.
All color drains from her face as she seeks me in the crowd. Tears well in her eyes. Her well-being trumps my own, so I offer her a small smile. Nodding, I give her permission to break my heart.
“I’m sorry,” she mouths.
I believe her, but that doesn’t change the fact that all the promises we made are being shattered as Eric puts that blinding diamond on her finger. He didn’t even get down on his knee. I’d bend both knees and make the world kneel for her.
When she says a shaky yes, a steel pipe pierces my chest, ripping through my heart. They seal the deal with a peck of their lips. She immediately pulls away. But here I am, watching the one I love kissed by a nobody. But that’s not true—he is her fiancé.
While cheers erupt, despair stifles everything around me. My life shifted in an instant, becoming gray and toneless. No more colors, no more sounds. She took those away.
They dance again to another slow melody. Eric pulls her to his chest, his arms locked around her back in a vice grip. Bailey closes her eyes for a moment, trying to put a bit of space between them, but he always redirects her how he wants. To the untrained eye, it looks like she is where she wants to be, keeping up the pretense by smiling and moving gracefully to the rhythm of the music and following his lead. But the flush spreading from her neck to her cheeks is a clear indicator of her frustration. And I can’t bloody help her out of the situation, which guts me even worse. My chest heaves with heavy pants. I can’t keep watching them, or I’ll commit murder right here and now and not care about the consequences.
“Would you like to dance?” a brunette girl asks me.
I hadn’t even noticed her approach. I shake my head at her. She smiles brightly at me, her expression dripping with flirtation like so many before her. But nothing will bring me joy again. Not as long as this situation continues.
Rage and jealousy tear me in two different directions, both wanting to be vindicated.
All my life seems to have been a struggle to survive my mom’s loss, the sexual abuse, and now my heart being severed with a scythe from my chest. While I had years to deal with the first two, I’ll need a lifetime to deal with the latter.
The girl keeps babbling, trying to get my attention by pushing her generous cleavage out in my face. I arch a brow at her. “I’m not interested. Please show yourself some respect and leave.”
An indignant huff escapes her overly plump lips before she finally stomps away.
I watch as Bailey excuses herself and speed walks toward the hallway. Eric instantly seeks me out as if needing to confirm that I am exactly where I should be.
He struts toward me, and I can’t help but think how I’d like to pluck the feathers off this wannabe peacock and burn them to ash at his feet.
“No congratulations?” he asks, entirely too smug for his own self-preservation.
“Congratulations,” I say steadily. His eyes widen, taken by surprise. This idiot has no idea about everything I had to learn as my father prepared me for our mission to take back our rightful place in the Family. I would never give Eric the satisfaction of one-upping me, even though that’s exactly what he did.
“The right man won her over,” he adds, grinning like the idiot he is.
It takes everything in me to maintain my composure. “If you say so, but let’s be very clear. If you ever hurt Bailey, I’m going to hurt you a thousand times worse.”
He can’t even hold my gaze for long. He immediately hides his fear behind a forced chortle. Guys like him hide behind the confidence of a god while having the backbone of a salamander.
“You don’t have to worry. I will take fabulous care of my fiancée. Can’t wait to make her my wife soon.”
It’s that word soon that guts me. “Impatient much?”
“There is something about a summer wedding.”
I am one taunt away from slicing his neck and painting the polished floor in his blood.
His mother calls for him, and I stumble back when he turns to go to her. My knees weaken, threatening to give up on me at any moment. No one informed me of when it would happen. I have a few more months to find that asshole Felix before I have to watch Bailey marry someone else. I’d rather die than witness that happen. But what angers me to the point of black spots dotting my vision is that she had to know that tidbit—and yet, she still agreed.
If it needs to be done, she will do it.
That sucker-punches me so hard it feels like it sends me straight to the land of the dead.
With tunnel vision, I stride toward the exit, where Samuel intercepts me. “Mister Prescott, the party is inside.”
“I’m sure you would have a problem if I destroyed the place.”
His appearance, like his manners, speaks of utter professionalism. “I would indeed. Maybe you should wait in the west wing. It’s more peaceful there.”
“Do you have a certain room in mind?” Tell me where she is already.
“The last one on the right.”
I cock my head, not understanding his motivation. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were encouraging an illicit affair.”
“Far from my intentions,” he nods stiffly and walks away.
I take the stairs two at a time. This mansion is enormous, and you could easily get lost. A velvet seating lounge area is at the top of the stairs. High doors make out the long floor. While it keeps the refined and old touch, the first floor appears more intimate than the downstairs.
I walk with a single-minded focus, and without knocking, I stride inside.
“Just a minute,” Bailey says, her voice thick with emotion.
She twirls around, clutching her chest as she takes a step back. “You can’t be here.”
I crack my neck, trying to calm the volcano inside of me, threatening to erupt. “I can’t be here?” I repeat, my tone low and dangerous.
I shove my hands in my pockets in a desperate attempt to stop myself from touching her, but I’ve reached my breaking point.
Whatever she sees on my face makes her retreat further, her back hitting the windowsill. She grips it like it’s the only thing grounding her.
“Don’t I deserve a proper breakup, Bailey?” My voice is deceptively firm, but it’s a fragile mask. Beneath it, I’m breaking apart, splitting at the seams.
That fucking deadline has only accomplished to undo all my hard work and good intentions to stay calm and collected.
Bailey clutches the kitten pedant, eyes welling up.
“Do you have any idea where I have been these last couple of days?”
She shakes her head while I watch two tears slide down her gorgeous face. She doesn’t wipe them off as if to show me how hard that is for her too.
“In hell. In bloody hell.”
“You always revert to cursing in British English when you’re mad,” she says softly.
Exceptional observational skills, but then again, Bailey is everything and more. She’s good, kind, smart, beautiful. She’s not just the whole package—she redefines what a whole package is. No wonder someone else wants her. And that someone else got her.
“I’m past mad. I was mad when you didn’t come home or talk to me.” My tone, just like my sanity, starts somewhat intact. But then it takes a sharp dive, and I snap. “I was furious when I had to watch someone else make you his fiancée. But now, I am fucking murderous knowing that you’re going to marry him this summer.”
“Only if we don’t find Felix by then,” she whispers, lowering her eyes to the ground.
“That’s exactly what he fucking wants, Bailey. They’ll drag it out until you’re married, and we can’t change the Family law. Marriage is for life.”
She wraps her arms around herself. Everything in me demands to go over there and soothe her, but I am rooted in place.
“You could have come home and talked to me. We would have found a way together. Now…”
“Now what?” she asks, her voice cracked, her eyes swimming with unshed tears.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, desperate to erase that image from my head. “Now you’re bloody engaged to be married.”
“I did what I had to do.”
I rake my hand through my hair, tearing at the ends hard enough to pull some strands out, hoping the pain will anchor me. “This is how you justify breaking my heart? After you insisted you’d never do that? And I fucking believed you—like a dying man on his last breath, clinging to hope that he’ll finally find salvation.”
“This is not fair,” she screams, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m doing this for you because I can’t bear something happening to you!”
We’re both running high on emotions, so our overdue talk slays us open. I slam a fist into my chest. “But can you bear me dying on the inside? Because that’s what is happening right as we fucking speak,” I shout back, holding my head between my hands. She’s the one who approaches me, her soft feet padding on the rug until she lifts her hand. I grip her wrist. That fucking ring blinds me with rage.
“You’re an engaged woman,” I mutter.
“Don’t do this.” Her sweet plea undoes me.
“You were the one who started this. Is this how you want us to live, in secret, as an affair?”
“You’re being cruel. And I don’t deserve that treatment.”
“You don’t deserve that treatment? Fuck, Bailey. I’d bloody die for you, but that’s not what shows how much I love you. It’s that I’d live for you. I thought we were a team. I thought after everything we’ve been through, after everything we’ve experienced, we’d never make decisions apart. Such a na?ve fool, right?”
“Stop saying that. Please. Do you think I am happy with this situation? Do you think you’re the only one who is suffering?”
“Tell me how you would have fucking felt in my position.” I pant, the anger spilling over. “You’ve been jealous of hypothetical girls before.”
She flinches at that, and for a brief second, guilt pricks at me. But I am on a rampage, too far gone, too mad to stop.
“But you make me watch this. I probably will never close my eyes again without seeing what happened tonight. You had your reasons. Maybe they’re even selfless. But fuck your reasons. I am too hurt to even care about them. Nothing changes the fact that you broke my heart. That nothing will ever be the same. And in the end, Felix won.”