Chapter Twenty #2
She hugs me back just as tightly. “No. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.” Her voice breaks. “My period pain is nothing compared to what you’ve been through.”
I pull back just enough to look at her, my best friend, carrying guilt that was never hers to begin with. “We shouldn’t compare our pain,” I say gently, taking her hand in mine. “Your pain is real. Mine is real. That’s all that matters. And we’ll get through it together.”
She nods, swallowing hard.
There’s a beat of silence before curiosity, and a need for normalcy, slips in.
“But before,” I add, unable to help myself, “can you tell me what’s going on between you and Andres?”
I smirk.
She groans, but there’s something flustered beneath it. “He’s impossible. Rude. Arrogant.” Her face turns pink despite her effort to stay composed. “Honestly, he’s more annoying than your boyfriend or Clara’s.” She shakes her head. “And that’s impressive.”
“Clara’s boyfriend?” I blink. “Since when is she dating someone?”
So much has changed while I was gone.
Sienna sighs, closing the distance between us. “You’ve noticed, right?” she asks softly. “Lev doesn’t just stand near her. He hovers.” A knowing look crosses her face. “Men like him don’t hover without reason.”
When she puts it like that. . . yes. I have noticed. Lev lights up the moment Clara walks into a room, and the second someone else pays her attention, he looks like he might commit murder.
“I don’t think anything’s going on,” I say carefully. “She would’ve told us.”
We’ve always been close. Even if Sienna is my best friend, Kylie and Clara are my girls too.
“I don’t know,” Sienna murmurs. “She’s changed.” She hesitates. “And I’ve been a bitch to her, which I regret. But ever since she started working there, it feels like she’s not really on the girls’ team anymore. She spends all her time in that place.”
I hear the guilt beneath the words.
“That’s her workplace, Sienna,” I say gently. “Of course she spends time there. And sometimes we lose ourselves for a while, but that’s when we need support the most. That’s what friends are for.”
Her gaze drifts to Clara across the room. She looks thinner than usual. Tired.
“You’re right,” Sienna whispers. “I just. . . I needed you so much. And when you disappeared, I pushed everyone else away. I blamed everyone for not being able to find you.”
Tears pool in her eyes.
“I’m here now,” I tell her simply.
And for the first time since everything broke apart, I feel it might actually be true.
She wipes her tears with the back of her hand and lets out a shaky breath.
“Look at me,” she says, half laughing, half crying.
“You’re the one who’s, what, five months pregnant, kidnapped, with a father killed by her boyfriend, and here I am falling apart because I was terrified of losing you.
Because I didn’t know what I’d do without you. ”
“Well,” I say, smiling despite myself, “when you put it like that, I think I’ve had a pretty crappy few months.”
I laugh.
She laughs too.
And for a moment, everything feels lighter. This, this, is what I want. Friendship. Love. A sense that I could have everything if I just let myself. If I could forgive him.
So why is it so hard?
Maybe because forgiveness feels like believing everything will be fine, and I don’t trust that. Maybe I’m protecting myself from the moment he tells me he has to marry the don’s daughter. Maybe this distance is the only thing keeping my heart intact.
“Are you guys having a moment without us?” Kylie shouts from across the room, already heading toward us.
Clara follows, quieter. She stops just short of us, her beautiful face still shadowed with sadness. Kylie wraps her arms around Sienna and me, all warmth and noise, while Clara lingers on the edge, like she’s not sure she belongs.
“Come here, Clara,” I say gently.
A hesitant smile breaks across her face. She steps forward and joins us, and suddenly we’re all hugging, arms tangled, breaths overlapping, hearts pressed together.
“I missed you guys so much,” I tell them, my voice thick.
“We should do this more often,” Kylie says immediately.
“I love you girls,” Clara whispers. “Always.”
“I love you too,” Sienna says, guilt flickering across her face. Then louder, almost too loud, “I love all of you so much!”
We’re seconds away from a full emotional meltdown when a woman, staff, I assume, approaches us politely.
“Excuse me, Miss Beaumont,” she says. “Mr. Moretti is waiting for you outside.”
My cheeks burn instantly.
What is he doing here?
Sienna gives me that look. Kylie looks like she might combust from happiness. Clara smiles softly at me, knowing and kind.
“What about the girls?” I ask.
The woman smiles. “Mr. Moretti has arranged a car for each of your friends to be driven home safely.”
“Oh, he’s such a gentleman,” Kylie gushes. I swear she’s become his number one fan.
“Are you sure?” I ask them, even though every part of me is already pulling toward him.
“Don’t worry about us,” Clara says. “It’s late anyway. I have a night shift.”
“You’re working tonight?” Sienna asks.
Clara nods. “Yeah. Apparently my mother needs money again, so I picked up extra shifts.”
My jaw tightens. If there’s a mother I hate almost as much as my own, it’s Clara’s. She disappears, reappears, demands, manipulates, always leaving Clara and her brother to clean up the mess.
“What about Julian?” Kylie asks. “Isn’t he helping?”
“He doesn’t know,” Clara says quietly. “She asked me not to tell him. Please don’t. He’d confront her, and I don’t want to feel guilty for not helping. She likes to remind us how much she sacrificed for us. How ungrateful we are.”
“We won’t tell him,” Sienna assures her.
“Just take care of yourself, Clara,” I say, concern threading my voice. “Promise me.”
She smiles softly. “I will. I promise.”
Kylie and Clara leave together, sharing a car since they’re neighbors, despite Kylie living in an actual manor and Clara insisting on independence. Sienna heads off in another car.
When the staff member guides me to the last one, my heart stutters.
It’s Lorenzo’s.
He’s leaning against his black Bugatti like it’s an extension of his body, casual, effortless, devastating. Black T-shirt. Black khaki pants. Nothing flashy, and yet everything about him steals my breath.
Why does he have to be so gorgeous?
I’ve never been like this around men. I can appreciate good looks, sure, but this man feels unreal. Like he stepped out of another world and decided to ruin me.
“Hey—”
He doesn’t let me finish.
He pulls me in by the waist and kisses me, hungry, unapologetic, claiming. I melt into him instantly, my body betraying every doubt my mind still clings to.
And I decide, just for tonight, just for one more day.
I’ll pretend we’re okay.