“Yes, you will!”
“I refuse to leave, Marlen. If I leave, I can’t keep you safe! I refuse to abandon you when things are starting to come to the surface. I’m staying!” She is so insistent, so forceful, that I’m shocked by it. Why wouldn’t she run with her tail between her legs now that I know the truth? What is the point of staying here? Her trickery has been revealed. I won’t fall for it anymore. Why stay?
I lick my lips and swallow hard. Her eyes plead with me for something. But I don’t want to listen to anything she says. She’s dangerous. She’s not who I thought she was.
Shaking my head, I step back.
“Do whatever you want, Stefania,” I snarl, turning my back on her and walking away.
***
Over the next day, I expect her to leave. I give her every opportunity to do so.
But she doesn’t.
I can’t figure out why. She hovers nearby, as though she wants to talk to me, but I have nothing more to say to her.
Every time she walks into a room, I walk out of it. It’s too painful to be near her.
I want her to leave, but I also don’t. But the things I am yearning for weren’t reality.
However, as time passes, the fact that she hasn’t run away starts planting seeds of doubt in my mind.
It doesn’t make sense. She can go home to her family now, but she’s still here with me.
Am I not seeing something? Misunderstanding something? Is there more to this story that’s been kept from me? Was my brother hiding the truth?
I have more questions than answers, and it’s driving me insane.
I realize I didn’t really give her a chance to explain anything, and instead I jumped to conclusions. Maybe I should have listened, but how can I listen to someone I no longer trust?
Chapter 22 - Stefania
It’s been two days since we fought.
Marlen has turned stone-cold toward me, and no matter how much I try to reach him, he has walls up so high that he refuses to even look at me.
I can’t give up on him, though.
I can’t give up on what we have. I believe it was real.
I wish he would talk to me.
Staring into the open-plan kitchen, I can see Marlen making something to eat. I’m in the living room, sitting on the sofa with a book in my lap. The same one I haven’t started reading yet.
It’s hard not to go in there and be near him, but I know the moment I walk into the kitchen, he will leave. How am I ever going to get through to him?
He’s even more grumpy than he was when he first brought me to his mansion. When he was my kidnapper, and I was his prisoner. It seems like a lifetime ago.
At first, I thought his anger would subside, and he’d be willing to hear me out, but two days later and that theory is quickly fading away.
Not daring to call my brothers and risk upsetting Marlen further, I called Simon instead. I explained briefly what had happened and begged him to tell Talia to keep my brother’s at bay. I need time. I promised Simon, and I told him to make sure Talia also understood that I would fix things soon. What choice do I have?None. I love Marlen, and I want to make things right.
Because Marlen is so hell bent on avoiding me, I’ve decided to stop chasing him around the mansion and sit quietly in the living room during the day. I’m waiting for him. Letting him know I’m here without trying to force him into a conversation. My heart believes that he will eventually come around. What we shared can’t be pushed away or ignored. It can’t be forgotten. It was too real for that. Itistoo real.
He has to let me in.
I flick the page, turning to a new chapter, even though I’m not focused enough to remember what I just read. It doesn’t matter. I’m just wasting time. Waiting.
