“And sometimes I wish I could just chuck it right back in fate’s face,” he retorts, and we both laugh.
His hand slides closer to mine again. The second our fingers touch, heat flashes through my body, but I force myself to ignore it, just as always. Because the business, my parents, the family … they come first. Even when it goes against every fiber of my being.
“Do you remember the notes we made?”
His question makes it feel as if there’s a ball in my throat, and I can’t even breathe without feeling like I’m suffocating.
“Because I do. If we were forced to marry each other, we promised to be kind.”
My hand slips out from under his. “Yeah, well promise you’ll be kind to my sister.” As tears form in my eyes, I move out of the little hut. I don’t want him to see them fall. I don’t want to make it even harder than it already is.
“Wait,” Liam says, but I keep going down the ladder.
“Give her a chance. Please,” I say as I turn to walk away. “You both deserve to be … happy.”
“I will. Always,” he yells back as I run off, fighting the tears.
Liam
* * *
Present
* * *
I stare at her tearstained eyes with pure and utter amazement.
All these years, I thought she didn’t care.
That my parents choosing her sister over her didn’t matter to her.
But I was wrong.
So wrong.
“I failed,” she mutters. “I failed to protect her.” Tears freely tumble down her face. “After everything I sacrificed, all the interest I showed in the company, my parents. All the energy I wasted, all the things I never did. Everything I ever did, I—” Her breath hitches in her throat. “It was all for nothing.”
I step closer, and for the first time in a long time, she won’t step away. “You tried your best.”
“It wasn’t enough!” she yells. “She still got married.”
“To the guy she wanted,” I reply with aversion.
“But that’s just it, isn’t it?” she says, shaking her head. “Luca wasn’t the one she wanted to begin with … It was you.” I gaze up at her tearful eyes, filled with regret. “She wanted you.”
“She didn’t know what she wanted,” I reply.
But I don’t think that’s what’s bothering her.
“I know you’re angry with everyone. Your parents. Me. Your sister,” I say. “But what you’re most angry with is yourself. That’s why you hurt yourself.”
Her face scrunches up from the rage, but she could never look any less than beautiful to me. “I can’t do it anymore,” she says, tears rolling down her cheeks, mixing with the raindrops.
She doesn’t move from her spot. All she does is suck in a breath. But it means more than words ever could. Because the pain in her eyes is indescribable.
“I hurt myself because I thought you died.”
Chapter 30