I laugh and cry at the same time.
She wraps her arms around me.
“We’ll figure this out.Whatever the government thing is, we’ll deal with it.We’ll make some calls.”
“Who are we going to call?We’re teachers.”I sniffle.
“We have some pretty important students in our school.I mean, I hear Lucy Volkov Cruz is sending her son here next year!”
“Really?That makes sense, I had her cousin’s kid in my class,” I murmur.
“See!I mean, who knew some of the biggest movers and shakers of New York City would live right here in Verona?Don’t worry, Sabrina.We will get it figured out!And if that hot bodyguard of yours has even half a brain, he’ll realize what he lost and come crawling back with flowers and tears.”
“Yeah,” I whisper, leaning into her side.“But what if he doesn’t?”
“Then we get you a new bodyguard,” she says.
“One with an emotional support puppy and fewer trauma scars.”
I laugh through my tears.Mary joins me.And then, I nod.
“Deal.”
But in my heart, I know no one else will ever come close to him.Because even though I’d been a rabid romance reader for years, I wasn’t ready for Theo Montego.
I wasn’t ready for the way he’d crash into my life, take my heart, ruin me for any other man, and then just disappear.
I’m not even sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this aching emptiness inside of me knowing he’s gone.
Oh, Theo, why’d you run?
Chapter26
Ego
The snow’s coming down in thick, fluffy flakes now, and the streets are slick with a slurry of salt and meltwater—making driving rough and braking damn near suicidal.
My heart’s beating me to death.
But I yank the wheel up her block, slam the truck into park—half on the curb, half in the bushes—and throw the door open like the street’s on fire.
I don’t even kill the engine.
Kai yells behind me as I jump out, “I’ll park it, sure!You’re welcome, dickhead!”
I flip him off over my shoulder.
My boots hit pavement, and I’m running before I even realize it.
Her house is right there—quiet.Too quiet.
Lights on, but no movement.
Every breath I take feels like a curse in my lungs.
I take the porch steps two at a time and raise my fist to knock—the door flies open.
I freeze.
