Chapter 35
a ring on it
brOOKLYN
Standing, frozen, between the en suite bathroom and the bedroom, I observed, studying closely the sight of Marco Deluca, sleeping in our bed.
The details that made him the man he was were difficult to make out in the dark room.
Then there were the ones that were more difficult to see regardless of the time of day.
The scars he had endured weren’t physical, they were emotional, but I saw every single one of them when I looked at him.
He’d let me in even when he hadn’t known he had been doing it, and I’d accepted all of them. I’d accepted him.
It would have been a cruel thing if we hadn’t been pushed together.
If we had never had the experiences we’d had.
Because they all led us here.
To this moment.
I wished I could freeze it and preserve it somehow, so I could look back on it whenever I wanted to for the rest of my life. So I could feel the things I felt all over again. For the first time.
I believed we were made for each other, made to be broken so we could put each other back together.
Drawn to him like a magnet was to metal, I deliberately walked swiftly to the bed. As I was about to lift the sheet and slip in, I heard a notification sound from his phone. One look at Marco, and I knew he hadn’t heard it. He didn’t move, didn’t stir at all.
My poor man was exhausted. He’d been going through so much lately that I wanted him to get the sleep he obviously needed.
Fearing there’d be other messages that followed, I walked to his side of the bed with one hand on my back.
I picked up his phone from the nightstand and felt an urgent kick, as if she also wanted me to silence that phone. With one hand rubbing my belly, I spoke softly. “I’m going, baby girl.”
Having finally silenced it, I looked down at the screen. Lorenzo had sent flame emojis. He was also the missed call, and if his subsequent text was any indication, whatever it was he had to say was on fire. Given the late hour, it felt like it was definitely possible it could’ve been.
With the phone still in my hand, another notification popped up. It was another text from Lorenzo.
“If you won’t call me back, at least listen to my message.”
Indeed, it was on fire for him. I stood there for longer than I probably should have, deliberating what I should do.
The prospect of waking him when he was finally getting some rest physically pained me.
I also didn’t want to ignore Lorenzo because I knew if he could’ve, he would’ve listened to that message.
Maybe I should listen to it, then decide if it warrants waking him up.
It might be nothing, in which case, I can fill him in over breakfast.
I dialed into his voicemail as I walked back to my side of the bed. Lorenzo’s smooth voice flooded my ears. “Mad, why didn’t you tell me that Dad was screwing Raf over to acquire an undervalued horse we know has impeccable bloodlines? In fact, why haven’t I heard from you at all lately?”
My blood pressure was slowly starting to rise. I could feel it.
The message kept going. “I thought we were in this together. Actually, it doesn’t matter.
I can forgive the oversight. But if the equine centers can’t get you leverage with the board, then can’t you use what you know to at least give you leverage with Dad to get out of the arranged marriage? Wasn’t that the goal all along?”
Had it been?
“Just pivot on the path to getting it done. Call me back. I won’t be getting what I was promised from this deal, but I love you, little brother, so I’ll still help you, if you want.”
The message just kept going until it finally stopped, unlike my mind, which was currently running at ninety miles per hour. The phone slipped from my grip when I was no longer able to hold it. I’d become limp. A shell of myself.
He wanted out of the arrangement? I knew he had at first. We both had. But I hadn’t realized he was still actively working on slithering out of it like the copperhead snake he was suddenly transforming into before me. One of the sneakiest snakes because it was fantastic at camouflaging itself.
Here I was thinking we’d come so far. Thinking we were meant to be.
I’d been foolish. Foolish and blind to what Marco really wanted. Which wasn’t me.
Forcing my gaze off of Marco, I looked down at myself. How could I have been so wrong? Everything I’d believed was wrong. I lifted a hand to my mouth to muffle the groan I felt tearing through me. My hand…
My hand that still didn’t have a ring on it.
I was starting to think it was never going to have a ring on it.
Not from Marco.
We hadn’t come so far. We hadn’t taken a million tiny steps forward. We never would. Not when we’d just taken leaps backward.
Unable to share space with him for another second, I considered my options, of which I had surprisingly few.
My old place… But that was tainted by Santo.
My safe haven… The jewelry store. But it was the middle of the night.
My best friend’s. For that one, there was no but. No reason that wasn’t exactly where I should go.
So, I got up, went to the bathroom, and packed myself a bag for Capri’s.
Everything I needed fit snuggly in it, even my tears right alongside my diamonds.
Both shimmered with a rainbow of colors as the artificial light hit them.
The irony was, I felt like I was still in the middle of the storm, not past it, appreciating the beauty that gently brushed over the scene with the promise that something special was waiting for me.
Unfortunately, I knew better.