Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115400 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Taking her waist, I pull her in and drop a kiss to her temple. “It simply cannot happen,” I tell her, feeling as my heart shatters within my chest. “I will have my driver take you home, and I’ll arrange for Krista to pack up your things and have them delivered.”
Chiara scoffs, gaping at me as though she doesn’t even recognize me. “Just like that, huh?” she asks, her tone breaking as a tear rolls down her cheek and falls to her collarbone.
I nod, feeling an ache forming deep in my gut. “Just like that.”
She stares at me a moment as the silence grows heavy between us, and I hate the betrayal that grows within her eyes. She’s breaking right in front of me, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. My hands curl into balls at my sides, resisting the urge to reach out and comfort her again, but I’ve kissed her once, and that’s all I will allow.
The betrayal in her eyes quickly morphs into blatant agony, and just like that, Chiara turns and walks out of my bedroom, not sparing even a second to turn back. The moment the slamming door cuts through the silence, I let the ache consume me and fall to my knees, knowing that without a doubt, I just lost my whole fucking world.
27
CHIARA
Everything hurts.
I sit in the back of Killian’s SUV—the only time I’ve ever been in it without him, and I’ve never felt so alone. His driver flies through the long, windy streets that lead back toward the city I once called home, and every inch of distance he puts between us shatters me just a little bit more.
I thought I’d found my forever. I thought we were going to build a life together, and after the conversation we had in the kitchen last night, I simply don’t understand what went wrong.
Waking up in his bed, I had the perfect vision of how our morning was supposed to go. We were going to spend hours wrapped in each other’s bodies while experiencing the sweetest pleasure this world could offer. We would have had breakfast in bed and ended up in the shower together, only to fuck up against the wall. I would have gotten on my knees for him and worshiped every inch of his rock-hard body, and once I was thoroughly done, I would have started all over again because we were meant to be. We’d found our happiness, and this was our chance to finally see a glimpse of what our lives could look like together.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d wake to hear those words spill from his mouth. You need to leave. Since the moment I walked out of his room, those words have terrorized me in every way possible.
You need to leave.
You need to leave.
They won’t go away, no matter what I do. They’re on a constant loop inside my mind, destroying me from the inside out.
How could he just toss me aside as though I never mattered? I know this is all still so new, but the moment he saved me from the auctions and took me to his home, I came to terms with the fact that I was never going back. I’d said goodbye to my old life and started to learn what this new world had in store for me, and while it scared the shit out of me, I knew it was going to be okay because I had Killian right there to protect me.
Don’t get me wrong, the idea of marriage and babies at twenty-three also terrified me, but Killian made it seem so easy, so natural. He made me believe that I could have anything I wanted, but I didn’t want anything . . . only him. And now . . . Am I ever going to see him again? Or is he always going to be nothing more than a memory, a figment of my imagination, or a story that nobody will ever believe?
It’s a long drive back into the city, and the last time I did it, Killian knocked me out with one hell of a strong sedative. I was so pissed about it, but now, I would give anything to be able to fall unconscious and wake up in another lifetime where the memories of him won’t hurt quite so much.
I was falling in love. There’s no doubt about it, and in an instant, he pulled the rug out from under my feet.
How the hell am I supposed to go back to my bland lifestyle after that?
The tears continue to flow, but I manage to gain control of my gasping breaths, and after an hour, the driver finally glances at me through his rearview mirror. I’m under no illusion that Killian would have demanded he watch over me. I also don’t doubt that someone will be watching me over the coming weeks. At least until I fade from Killian’s mind and become some girl he used to know.