“Hey. Up here, butterfly.” She does and I continue, “I haven’t visited her since she died.” Real sympathy flashes over her now. “I couldn’t face her. I was too ashamed. But it was more of a goodbye.” I swallow back the emotions. “I told her about you.”
That earns a smile from her at least. A sad one though.
“It’s okay. It’s all okay now,” I tell her in reassurance because it damn well is. “Danika. I have something else to say to you.”
“You don’t need to say anything—”
“No. I do. I need to tell you this.”
She pauses but then finally agrees. “Okay.”
“Back on that cliff. When you said Gracie wouldn’t want me to take my life.” I swallow, trying to breathe my way through this.
“And I meant it.”
I nod. “I know. And I told you that’s a reason I’m still here.”
“Yes.” Her voice shakes, and her lips part slightly.
“There’s another reason.”
She studies me, while her tied body rips me into shreds. “What is it?”
“You. Even before we met, deep down I knew you were out there. I can’t explain it. I can’t begin to understand it. But I knew.” I inhale deeply. “I knew inside my heart. The heart I thought was no longer beating and shattered but destroyed.”
Tears cascade down Danika’s cheeks, and she winces as they touch the open cut on her left side.
“And now that I’ve found you, I’ll be damned if I’m letting you go. You were right. In some crazy way, Gracie did bring us together. She knew I would need you.”
Silent sobs come from her, and it pains me.
“Don’t cry, my beautiful butterfly. Please don’t cry.”
“They’re happy tears, Liem. Because I fully believe she brought me to you, too. She knew I would need you. The universe knew.”
I close my eyes, feeling her words deep inside my core, letting them warm my soul. “The pain I felt after so many years of losing her... it’s not what you think,” I say as her eyes narrow in confusion. “Yes. I hated myself thinking there was something else I could have done to save her that night but I… I carried around another guilt.” My chest tightens. “I still loved her with every fiber of my being… but I wasn’t… I’m notin lovewith her anymore.” My eyes burn, the tears flowing like rain. “And it destroyed me inside. I had already let her go and I hated myself for it.”
She tilts her head, but I look away ashamed.
“Oh, Liem. You’re allowed to move on. You’re allowed to fall out of love. Yes, you still love her, but it’s natural for that feeling to fade over time. It’s nothing you deserve to hate yourself over. She wouldn’t want that.”
I take a breath, letting my cries dry up, allowing this to be the last time I cry for Gracie. “I know that now. You helped me see that. And I love you for it. I love every part of you, Danika. Your strength. How you care for others. The courage you’veshown after the pain you’ve endured. You’re the bravest person I know and I’m the luckiest man alive to be able to love you.”
Her lip trembles as more tears flow. “I love you, too. I loved you since the warehouse, but I didn’t know it yet.”
I close my eyes listening to her words replay inside my mind. A soft song warming every part of me. “I need you. When we get out of here. I fucking need you.”
She bites her bottom lip, and I surge with fire for her. And only her. But it’s the distance she starts to create that worries me.
“Eyes on me. Keep your eyes on me.”
Danika lets out a shaky breath, her lip trembling along the way. “We need more time together.”
My chest tightens and I clench my jaw in pure insanity. I’m getting us out of here.
“Liem?”
The pain from my wrists heightens as I begin to pull at the binds again. Somehow, I was able to loosen them before which gives me an advantage. If I can get to the knife inside my boot, I can cut Danika free. It’s desperation. The need to save her. I couldn’t save Gracie, but I’ll be damned if I let Danika die. I won’t fail her.
