This… this is what she loves.
I will never be able to compete with the Outfit.
And I was a fool to ever think I could.
Here I am, watching her take her crown, and every part of me burns with pain.
Her mother told me not to lose hope. Told me to fight. Told me to fight for us.
But there is no us.
Not really.
Loving me puts fear in her heart.
And for her to be fearless… she has to close that heart off from everyone around her.
She tried to tell me.
She tried to warn me.
This is the woman she was always destined to become.
If I truly loved her, I would let her go.
I wouldn’t stand in her way.
I wouldn’t be the thing that held her back.
If I love her the way I claim I do, I’d let her fly.
And God, how I hate the fact that my love is that fucking selfless.
Selfless enough to grant her every heart’s desire…no matter how vicious it feels to me.
Chapter 26
Stella
“You did good,” my father praises, his usual arctic-hazel eyes beaming with pride.
“Thank you,Papà,” I say, trying not to scan the living room for Kirill and bask in my father’s approval instead.
But it’s no use.
All my thoughts go back to Kirill.
As I was being inducted into the Outfit, standing in the center of that large circle ofCapos, I couldn’t help searching for a pair of dark eyes among them. The moment felt almost incomplete, like it could only be real if Kirill was there to witness it with me.
He must have known that, and that’s why he crashed my party today. He knew how important it would be for me to have him by my side.
Damn it.
I need to talk to him.
But that means I have to find him first.
Which is nearly impossible when my entire family is surrounding me, each one wanting to congratulate me and be part of my big day.
