He squeezes me more tightly.
I’m quiet for a long moment. My anger isn’t gone—maybe it won’t ever be completely gone. Three years is a long time to wonder what you did wrong.
But I understand.
When he thought I’d slept with Gaby, it was the final straw, the proof that I was like his father.
I wasn’t. Of course not. But he didn’t know that.
“I’m sorry you went through that,” I say finally. “I am.”
“I thought you abandoned her,” Enzo says. “I thought you slept with her and abandoned her and hurt her. I thought I’d introduced her to someone like my dad, someone who left. I-I couldn’t forgive you for that.”
My shoulder is wet, and I stroke my fingers through his hair.
I don’t like that this happened, but I do understand it.
Enzo scrambles from my arms.
“You must hate me,” Enzo says. “I-I get it. I don’t want to force you to be with me. I know I moved into your apartment. I know I invaded your space with my issues, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Axel. You were the nicest person I ever met. You were incredible. I loved you so much.”
I stiffen. “You better still love me.”
“I-I do, but…”
I wrap my arms around my chest. I stare at him.
“I hurt you,” Enzo says.
“You did. You hurt me so much.”
“So I understand if?—”
“It’s better if you leave?”
His face crumbles, but he sticks out his jaw and widens his shoulders, like a captured soldier about to be shot by the enemy. “Yes. That.”
I frown. “And custody of Luca?”
“You’re Luca’s father. You have custody of him.”
“You won’t fight me?”
He gives me a strange look. “No. B-but I would like to see him. I don’t want him to think I don’t care about him. I-I could move into another apartment here just like we talked about in the beginning.”
“Like you talked about in the beginning,” I say.
He shrugs. “I-I guess.”
“All because you didn’t speak to me for three years?”
“I hurt you. You didn’t deserve that.”
“No. I didn’t.” I push myself up, heart still hammering. “Stand up, Enzo. I need to tell you something.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
