He whirled on her. “I told you, didn’t I? I told you we should get you tested. I told you that you didn’t look right. I told you that that fucker had done something!” He was shouting now, his voice shaking with fear and rage. “For fuck’s sake, Bug, was hating me more important than listening to me?”
“I don’t hate you!” She screamed back. “I love you! I have always loved you, you dumbass!”
Kabir froze and for the first time, Tani realised they had a very interested audience. Everyone, and by that she meant everyone, had gathered.
“Oh no,” Kanak drawled from where she leaned against a wall. “Don’t stop now. Please keep going, the two of you.”
Kabir stared at Tani, one last burning glare, and then he pushed through the crowd and left. Without a single word to anyone. Without a backward glance at her.
CHAPTER 33
KABIR
There wasa storm brewing in his head, a dark, sucking void opening up inside him, widening with every step he took, threatening to swallow him whole. His breath couldn’t keep up. His thoughts couldn’t string themselves together.
Pressure crushed his chest as he marched through the grand hallways of Il Cuore, the marble floors blurring beneath him. Chandeliers glittered overhead, mocking him with their calm brilliance while his world caved in on itself.
He needed to escape. He needed to get away from the voices, away from the truth, away from what he’d heard, away from what he had to live with now.
He’d failed her.
The words beat at his skull, relentless and brutal. He’d fucking failed her.
He should have insisted she get checked. He should have done more. He should have protected her. He should have killed that bastard before he ever had the chance to-
“Kabir!”
Ved’s voice snapped across the space, sharp as a whip. Kabir flinched, shoulders hunching instinctively like he’d been struck. He shoved the front doors open with a force that rattled the hinges, stumbling into the crisp sunlight. The brightness hit him like a slap, too clean, too sharp, too much for the darkness tearing him up inside.
He sucked in air. It didn’t help.
“Hold on.” Ved’s hand landed gently on his shoulder. Kabir spun, shoving his father’s hand away like it burned.
“Don’t,” he bit out, voice cracking on the edges. His chest was a vise. His heart was a ticking grenade. He was one word away from exploding and taking everyone in the vicinity with him. “Don’t,’ he said again. “Don’t tell me it’s going to be okay.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Ved said softly.
The gentleness in the words nearly destroyed him. Because Kabir knew exactly what that meant. It wasn’t okay. It wasn’t going to be okay. And for the first time since he’d known the man, his father wasn’t pretending otherwise.
“I failed her,” Kabir said, his voice cracking.
“How do you figure?” Ved’s voice held no anger or judgment. He just watched Kabir, patiently.
Kabir shut his eyes, giving up, and the memories swallowed him whole. They swam through him like quicksand, dragging him under, pulling him back into the one moment he’d been trying to outrun ever since it happened.
Her kiss. God! Her kiss.
Soft at first, then fierce, then reckless, like she’d finally stopped fighting the truth they’d both been bleeding from. Her mouth on his had felt like fire and forgiveness and home all at once, scorching through every wall he’d built, every lie he’d told himself, every reason he’d used to stay away.
Her fire. It had both warmed and burned him. He could still feel it, the heat of her fury, her desperation, the way she’d grabbed him like she was furious at him and terrified for him and in love with him all at the same time. She wasn’t delicate. She wasn’t hesitant. She loved like she lived, completely or not at all.
He could still feel the tremble in her fingers as they slid into his hair, pulling him closer, pulling him into a world where he was wanted, where he was chosen, where he was loved.
She kissed him like she was done pretending she didn’t want him, like she was done pretending she could live a life in which he didn’t exist.
And then her palm pressed over his heart.
Right over the frantic, terrified beats slamming against his ribs. Her hand had settled there gently, steadying him, grounding him, claiming him without saying a word. Her thumb had stroked once, a soft, trembling reassurance that he didn’t deserve.
