She stared at me with disgust. “Didn’t see the harm?”
“I know it’s terrible. I know it’s wrong. I know how fucking terrible it sounds as I say it out loud. But I fell in love with you…and I wanted to do everything possible to keep you, to hold on to that as long as I could.”
Her breathing stopped altogether, even her tears halted on her cheeks, as if gravity lost all its force. “What?”
I shook my head. “Don’t play that game.”
“Game?”
“Don’t act like you didn’t know I was madly in love with you. You’re too fucking smart for that. You know we stopped fucking a long time ago, that we’ve been making love ever since. You think I’m growing flowers for you because I think you have a nice ass?” I asked incredulously. “You think I get jealous of that short-shit director because you’re just some woman I’m sleeping with? You think you’re the only person who has the key and code to my private home because you get my dick wet? Come on, Catalina. Knock that shit off.”
She breathed hard, her arms crossing over her chest. “You promised me…”
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. “Well, you fell in love with me first.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When you called me and warned me about Damien. That was the moment I knew.”
She shut her mouth tightly, and this time, she averted her gaze, like she couldn’t confront reality. It was too traumatic. “You promised me, Heath.”
“Don’t expect me to feel bad about it. Because I don’t.” I stared at her twelve feet away from me, devastatingly beautiful with those tears making her eyes wet and her cheeks red. Women never looked attractive like that, but she was irresistible.
She put her fingers under her eyes and wiped up her makeup, even though that wouldn’t make much of a difference because the damage had been done.
“I will do anything to make this work. I’ll apologize to Damien. I’ll apologize to your father. Anything you want.”
She turned back to me, her eyes cold. “You think an apology is going to fix everything? You literally tried to kill my father. He would be dead right now if Damien hadn’t protected him. I would have no parents right now—because of you.” She pointed her finger at me. “And you think an apology is going to make that go away?”
I already knew I’d lost her—and it fucking hurt.
“In case you haven’t noticed, my father is my best fucking friend.”
“Yeah…I noticed.” Another reason I’d kept my mouth shut.
“So, no, Heath. An apology doesn’t change anything. I will never look at you the same…”
“Love is much stronger than hate, Catalina.” I stepped closer to her.
She shook her head, her eyes furious. “It was never love, Heath. You can’t fall in love with someone you don’t know.”
“You do know me.” My hand moved over my chest. “Everything between us, it was all real.”
“I hate you,” she snapped. “I hate you…” She continued to say the phrase, backing away from me, staring at me like she meant it. “I thought I was crazy, told myself it was a stupid superstitious belief, but it was the truth. I should have taken it seriously. I should have listened…and that’s my biggest regret.”
I vaguely remembered her mentioning this when we first got together, when she made me promise not to fall in love with her. She never elaborated and never mentioned it again. “Take what seriously?”
She backed up farther, staring at me with ferocity. “Hades and Damien went to Marrakech a long time ago. A gypsy read their fortune, said they would fall in love, but it would be painful. Neither one of them believed it, until everything she said came true. So, I visited the same gypsy with Damien a while ago, when he asked her for help with Anna. She told me my fortune.”
Did she really believe that bullshit?
“She said I would only fall in love once, and he would be an enemy to my family.” She looked into my eyes as if she identified me as that man. “That was why I told you not to fall in love with me, because I was afraid it was true. And it was. That’s why I’ve never tried to fall in love, never stayed with a man long enough for it to happen because I knew it wasn’t possible. And when I did find a man to marry, it would be based on friendship, trust, and compatibility. Now…I know it’s true. That’s why I turned you down so many times, until you wore me down. The prophecy was true…”
“Catalina, don’t let some stranger dictate your life. You’re smarter than that—”
“It happened to both Damien and Hades. You think that’s a coincidence?”
“Yes.”
“And the fact that everything she said about me is true?”