“We don’t have to tell the world,” she whispers.
I wipe away the stream of tears running down her cheek. “You don’t deserve to live like a dirty secret, Dove. You’ll marry someone who gives you all the love and respect you deserve. You’ll forget about this love in a few years.”
“I can’t love someone else, Zoan,” she says, her voice trembling.
“You can. Everyone can.”
She sits up on the bed, eyes blazing through her tears. “Maybe you could love someone else, someone you wouldn’t have to keep hidden, but I can’t.”
She gets off the bed and leaves the room, her retreating steps echoing in the silence.
“You are more than love, Dove,” I murmur into the darkness. “You’re my missing soul. I’m alive through you.”
I pick up my phone and open Roxion’s text from a few hours ago.
Roxion Marco: ‘Did you find something?’
He had called me right after dropping Avira off and told me about the shooting—how, according to him, Avira could have been the target. I’d told him I would investigate.
Roxion Marco: ‘And dude, I like your sister. She’s so full of life. But I don’t want to decide marriage on her behalf either. I want to take her on a few more dates. Hope you won’t kill me.’
She deserves this. She deserves someone like him.
I’ve known him for five years now. He’s a man who would never let a single tear fall from her eyes. He would keep my Dove happy, so happy that she would forget the very existence of mine.
Me: ‘I’ll let her know.’
But how will I exist when she falls in love with another man, builds a family with him, and no longer calls me every night to say good night, Zoan? How will I breathe when my Dove belongs to someone else?
chapter 21
Avira
Mama and Daddy leave for DC, and I pack my things to leave for New York. And of course, my security is top priority for a certain someone, so he is coming with me. I have refused to look at or speak to him since that night, a week ago. And with the effort it would take him to move his mouth, he doesn’t even try. I have a feeling that if I don’t speak, he won’t speak for a lifetime.
I’ve thought thoroughly about our situation. He loves me, and I can be a brat, but I can’t ignore it, because it stands out like a lone green tree in an empty desert. And yes, the desert here is Zoan’s heart. Everyone knows he loves me intensely, but they all assume it’s brotherly love.I had no reason to think differently either. But now I know, and I am both happy and angry, in equal measure.
I have a very big issue with him taking decisions for me. He has been doing it forever, but this is one matter in which I will not allow him control, because, let’s be honest, Zloban knows nothing when it comes to matters of the heart.
He never says anything he doesn’t believe in completely. When he has doubts, he stays silent, withholding his opinions. And what he strongly believes, without a shred of uncertainty, is that I could fall in love with someone else.
The second issue I have with the man sitting beside me is that he thinks I won’t be able to survive the consequences. I hate it, because he’s right. I know too well what those consequences are: number one, disappointing my parents; number two, the guilt of putting them in a situation where they have to face people talking badly about our family; and number three, hearing people whisper about us in ways that aren’t so kind.
But I’m perfectly fine with the alternative. I’ve already reshaped all my daydreams, from becoming his wife and building a happy family with him, to becoming his secret lover, carrying his children in silence. I’ve even made plans for how I’ll explain my pregnancies. We could live like that for the rest of our lives. I know people will start whispering and speculating when neither of us marries,but honestly, in this century, no one truly gives a damn about singles, at worst, there will be gossip, and gossip fades.
I shoot him a sideways glare. This man almost shot my date simply because I was enjoying myself, and then he has the audacity to sit at the dinner table the next day and announce that Roxion wants to take me on more dates. Like, wow. Can he not see how much of a hypocrite he is? I don’t think so. But that’s fine. I’m here to show him exactly that. I’ll go on every single date with Roxion, because I know for certain Zoan won’t be able to stand seeing me happy with another man. And I am going to look very, very happy. It won’t even be difficult. Being a natural grinner, it doesn’t take me a second to flash a smile when someone smiles at me first.
Our chopper lands on the roof of Leo’s penthouse, the building he owns outright. Zoan presses a code and opens the rooftop gate. We descend the narrow stairs. At the bottom, he enters another code on another door.
The question—How do you know all these codes?—rises to the tip of my tongue. But I run my tongue across my lips and seal my mouth shut. I’m not breaking my silent treatment for such a stupid question.
The door opens, and we step into a massive apartment, floor-to-ceiling smart glass windows line the walls, offering a panoramic view of New York City’s skyline.
I give myself a private tour of the breathtaking space. I open the room downstairs, it doesn’t look too frequently used. I close it and climb the stairs. Upstairs, there are three rooms.
The first one is huge, clearly the master bedroom, with a faint Leo vibe radiating from its luxurious yet functional design. I close the door and open the next one. This room is stark, minimalistic, furnished only with what is absolutely necessary, each item placed with such precision it borders on obsession. I don’t need anyone to tell me, this is Zoan’s room. The fact that he has a personal room here confirms he has spent considerable time in this penthouse. I close the door with a slight snap of aggression, I realize I’m mad at everything associated with him.
The third room is across from the master bedroom, adjacent to Zoan’s room. It’s already open. I peek inside, it’s a cozy, intimate space. Perfect. I’ll stay here.
