Chapter 6
LEONARDO
I didn’t have time to process my tumultuous feelings as I poured all my energy into the slumbering woman beside me. My troubles were nothing compared to hers.
Beams of daybreak peeked through the curtains, coating Gabriella in a soft, golden halo. She had finally succumbed to sleep an hour before, her mind unable to rest until her body gave in to exhaustion.
I had no such solace.
A never-ending rage continued to rise, simmering beneath my skin like a living entity. I was in disbelief at the extent of Nico’s deceit.
How could someone I’d known and loved for more than twenty years treat me—us—like sacrificial pawns to use and abuse as he pleased?
A vibrant ribbon of pain sparked in my chest every time I thought of what he had stolen from Gabriella as the consequences were inconceivable. He had ripped away precious years with a precision so brutal and cruel, it would leave long-lasting scars.
I couldn’t fathom his reasoning. He had so methodically destroyed her with such evil intent that I had to question his entire character and him as a person.
But the worst regret of all? It could have been me. I would have given Gabriella everything she desired. No matter how unreasonable or minuscule, anything she asked would have been hers. Including the beautiful kids she desperately sought.
She stirred, a low whimper escaping her dreams. I hesitated for a split second before smoothing the soft dark strands off her face. She unconsciously leant into my touch, seeking comfort from a trustworthy hand.
At that moment, I made a vow.
I’ll never break your trust, Ella. Never.
The fifteen-minute drive felt like five as my brain ran in circles. My self-preservation urged me to turn the car around and speed out of there. Yet the ignition was already switched off by the time I processed that I was parked in the driveaway.
Gabriella was distraught, her emotions spiralling as she made a list of all the essentials she had to collect from her house. She didn’t want to go back, and was not ready to see Nico again, let alone engage with him.
So I offered. Nico didn’t deserve another second of her time. He didn’t get to bask in her suffering. From then on, he got nothing.
When I unblocked his number a couple of hours before, notifications flooded my phone.
I ignored them all and sent him one message.
A list, written by Gabriella, with no embellishments or additives.
Just a clinical note of what she wanted to take—important documents, work electronics and some sentimental jewellery.
She said everything else belonged to a life of lies and had no place in her new one.
Now, I was storming up to my ex-best friend’s front door, overtired and fucking wired on caffeine.
I didn’t knock or make a grand entrance. Instead, I slipped inside without preamble, and what I found made me pause.
Nico stood at the kitchen bench, wiping down the surface with a wet cloth. Gabriella’s belongings were neatly packed in a large duffel bag by the couch.
The house was spotless, which would have taken hours to clean.
I was surprised he had tainted his surgeon hands by sweeping up glass and spoilt food, but there was a first for everything, I guessed.
“Where’s my wife?” he asked, voice calm. Too calm.
“She’s not your concern anymore. Won’t be your wife for much longer either.”
Nico chucked the rag, then his bloodshot eyes met mine, hostility bubbling beneath.
I swaggered forward, lifting Gabriella’s bag over my shoulder. That’s all their marriage came down to; one duffel full of material items, with a lifetime of trauma packed on top.
As I shifted to leave, Nico called out.
“I fought hard for her. I’m never letting her go.”
Oh, hell no, fucker.
The match was lit. “Shut the fuck up, you SELFISH CUNT!” I screamed. “You annihilated her! Lied to me! For what? I’m still trying to understand it, Nico. Did we ever mean anything to you? Did you ever consider me your friend? Did you really want her as your wife? Was any of it real?”
“You were my friend…until you became my rival. I wanted her, loved her and am still in love with her. It’s the realest thing I’ve ever felt, Leo. And I wasn’t giving that up for anyone, including you.”
His words were empty, bereft of true meaning, as proven by his actions.
“And that’s why you sabotaged my chance with her?” I asked, bitterness coating my tone.
I shook my head at his fucked-up reasoning.
“That’s the difference between you and me, Nico.
We were in the same position. Both in love with the girl.
You couldn’t stand the thought of Gabriella choosing me, so you manipulated both of us until she had one option.
You. From the first, I loved Gabriella, and I never got in the middle of you two.
Not once. I loved you enough to do that, Nico.
I never would have hurt you like you have hurt both of us. ”
“Exactly, Leo,” he said with a mocking sneer. “That is the difference. I was willing to fight for what I wanted, no matter the cost. Whether that price was our friendship or the corruption of my black soul, none of it mattered if I got her.”
“And what of your vasectomy, Nico? How will you explain that away, huh?”
“I only owe an explanation to my wife, not you. And I’ll do that when I get her to forgive me.”
I cackled—legitimately lost my shit and cracked the fuck up.
“You’re so fucking psychopathic, you’ve actually managed to convince yourself that she’ll forgive you,” I said. “You don’t get it. You may as well have ripped out her womb and heart at the same time. There’s no coming back from this.”
Nico’s expression hardened. “You must be revelling in my demise, huh? Been pining after my wife for years, biding your time to pounce. You’re weak, not man enough to make the necessary sacrifices to have a woman like her. You will forever be her friend.”
I smirked. “I’ll be whatever she wants me to be.”
Nico looked on the verge of vaulting over the bench and tackling me to the ground, aggression pouring off of him in waves.
I hadn’t meant for it to sound sexual, but I wasn’t going to contest his assumptions.
That was my cue to leave, because if I stayed any longer, I knew we would literally end up killing each other. There was no point in wasting my time on a delusional fool. I have someone else waiting on me.
With that thought, I made for the exit, and before I shut the door behind me, I spared one last glance at the former best friend I once considered a brother.
He stood proud and resolute, but I could see the fissures beginning to crack. That was when I gave him my unerring truth, blatant and raw.
“You lost two people who truly loved you, Nico. Two people who would have had your back through everything. I don’t know what happened over the years that made you think this shit would ever be acceptable, but it doesn’t matter.
You’re alone now. No matter who you surround yourself with from here, you are alone. ”