My heart pounds so hard I'm sure everyone in the building can hear it. But I force myself to move, slipping off my sneakers to pad silently across the floor. Fifteen feet. Ten. Five.
The door handle turns under my trembling hand, and suddenly I'm outside, the door clicking shut behind me. For one second, I stand frozen on the sidewalk, waiting for someone to shout, to grab me, to drag me back inside.
Nothing. I put my shoes on.
Then I'm running. My lungs burn as I sprint down the block, tears streaming down my face, blurring the city into watercolor smears. A sob rips from my throat, then another, until I'm crying so hard I can barely breathe.
I don't know where I'm going. Don't care. Anywhere is better than standing outside that office, watching Lorenzo pin Luna against the wall the same way he's pinned me a dozen times. Seeing the proof that I was never special, never chosen, never really his.
My foot catches on uneven pavement and I stumble, catching myself against a brick wall. The rough surface tears at my palms but I barely feel it. Physical pain is nothing compared to the agony shredding my chest.
"Stupid," I gasp between sobs. "So fucking stupid."
To think I mattered. To think a man like Lorenzo Sartori could actually love someone like me. Useless, a little girl knowing nothing about the world they live in.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Lorenzo
"Idon't give a fuck about your secrets." My hand tightens on her throat, not enough to choke but enough to remind her how easily I could. "You think I care who tells me why you're not rotting in the ground? I'll kill you first, then find out whatever game you're playing."
Luna's pulse flutters against my palm, rabbit-quick. But her eyes stay steady on mine. The one that fooled me into thinking she gave a damn.
"You won't kill me." Her voice comes out rough from the pressure on her throat.
"Try me." I lean closer.
Something shifts in her expression. Softens. Like she's dropping a mask she's worn too long.
"Are you in love with Sophia?"
My hand moves before I can think, the crack of my palm against her cheek echoing through the office. Her head snaps to the side, dark hair falling across her face.
"You don't get to say her name." The words come out in a snarl. "Not now. Not ever. Her name doesn't belong in your lying mouth."
Luna touches her reddening cheek, and when she looks back at me, there's something broken in her eyes.
"I'm sorry." The words are barely a whisper. "For breaking your heart. For everything I did to you."
What?
This isn't the Luna I know.
"I just asked because..." She swallows hard. "Because I want you to find happiness, Lorenzo. Real happiness. The kind we never could have had."
"Shut up." But my grip on her throat loosens.
"I know what I took from you. Your ability to trust. To love without looking over your shoulder." Her voice cracks. "If Sophia makes you happy, then?—"
"I said shut the fuck up!"
The rage explodes through me like wildfire. I slam my fist into the wall beside her head, plaster cracking under the impact. Pain shoots through my knuckles but I don't care. Can't care. Not when she's standing here pretending to give a damn about my happiness after destroying my ability to feel it.
"I was pregnant."
That's it. My hand drops from the wall, knuckles throbbing.
"What?"
