Chapter 59
KAI
I want us to stop seeing each other.
A sharp pain stabs my chest, sinking and draining all the air in my lungs.
“I don’t…” I stammer. “Why do you…I-I don’t understand.”
Diana rises to her feet with her hands pressing into her face. She sighs. “I’m trying to protect you, Kai.”
“From what? Your dad?”
“Yes.” Diana’s hands drop from her face, revealing teary eyes flashing with fear. “He told me that everything I’ve endured these last two months was a test to see how far I’d go to earn back my spot in the running.”
Anger snaps inside of me. I rake my hand through my hair, snarling under my breath, “Fils de pute.”
Son of a bitch.
“I don’t want my father to break you the same way he broke me, Kai. That’s why we can’t—” Her voice breaks off into a whisper that has my heart splintering. “We can’t be together.”
I shake my head. “I know your dad won’t let you go that easily, but it can’t always be like this. You can’t keep living a life like this, Di.”
“I don’t know what else to do!” Diana cries out. “It’s safer for the both of us if we never see each other again!”
“Bad things are going to happen whether or not I’m with you! Simon is always going to be there. Your dad will never stop wanting to control you. We can’t just keep waiting for the day when everything is suddenly perfect in our lives to be together!”
“I can’t just leave the company! I’ve been bound to my father and his expectations my entire life! I don’t know the first thing about paving a path for myself that doesn’t involve him!”
I hug Diana close and brush the tears from her eyes.
“Then I’ll stay,” I promise. “I’ll be right here with you while you figure everything out.”
For a second, she hesitates in my arms. I can tell she’s wrestling with the quiet urge to give in despite everything telling her to walk away.
Diana whispers something under her breath before her hand comes over mine.
Our fingers brush together and her smooth skin drags across my callouses.
The hope coming alive on her face suddenly dies under the fear clouding her expression.
“No.” Diana shakes her head and pushes against me. “No. This is a fire I have to put out, Kai. It’s going to take us down if I don’t.”
“I’ll go down with you if that happens,” I grind out. “I’m staying, Di. Right here beside you. Until we burn.”
Diana only pushes me back harder. She shies out of my arms and wipes her face, as she walks towards the door.
“It’s g-getting late,” she stammers. “I have to go.”
I rush after her, my mind racing for the right words to make her understand that I will want her even if it’s dangerous. But only desperation bleeds through the cracks in my voice. “Look, it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to get through this by yourself!”
“Kai, stop!” Diana begs. “Being with me isn’t worth all of this!”
“You think I’m only doing this to be with you?” I gasp, “No, I’m standing here arguing with you because I know you deserve a better life than what your dad is forcing you into!”
“Just stop, okay? Stop fighting for me!”
“No! I’m never going to stop fucking fighting for you, Diana!”
“Yes, you will!” Diana darts around with eyes so cold and harsh, they cut as deep as her words. “Because there’s nothing here that’s worth saving.”
My hands drop down.
In that immaculate black dress with her hair pin-straight, the heiress who keeps people at arm’s length stares back at me. No matter how much I search her face, I can’t find the girl I’ve been falling for.
“Come back.” The words slip out, shaky and trembling.
It’s so fucking stupid and it makes no sense, but that’s all I can say when I step towards her to cradle her face between my hands.
“Come back and hit your hand against my chest. Look up at me with that damn smile I’m so weak for. Please, just…come back.”
Diana simply blinks. Her voice is devoid of the sass and the energy I love so much. “I’m standing right here, Kai.”
“No,” I whisper. “No, you’re not.”
She sighs. Diana pries my hands off her. Pain splinters through her touch that it’s baffling how my bones are still holding me up.
Diana forces something into my hand, and I stare down at it. The coin I gave her lies there, drained of its light.
“Let. Me. Go, Kai.”
My sight unblurs just enough for me to see Diana one last time. Her stoic mask cracks a little. For a moment, I can see traces of the fierce, beautiful girl I’ve fallen for. But she’s slipping and fading away and there’s nothing I can do to bring her back.
Out of every injury I’ve ever had, none of them have hurt as much as watching someone you care about become another stranger who used to feel like home.
I dive into my pocket and draw out her hair clip. Diana takes it back and turns to leave.
The door slams shut behind her.
My head drops against the wood. Diana’s heels echo across the floors outside, receding farther and farther away until it’s completely quiet.
No trace of her stays back. Not even her perfume that always lingers on my skin and my clothes.
Diana disappears from my life as if she was never here at all.