Did he forge the death certificate?
After a few minutes, Ava returns, head held high. My heart is a rampaging beast in my chest. I cross the room and block her path. She stops with a gasp, but immediately composes herself. Unfortunately, she can’t hide the flutter of her pulse in her throat.
She doesn’t look happy to see me.
But even so, I step forward, open my arms as if to hug her.
“Don’t you dare,” she hisses.
“You’re alive,” I say.
She shakes her head slowly. “Oh. My. God.”
“Ava, you’re?—”
“Please, don’t tell me this is going to be your line. I’malive? What are you even babbling about? I was alive when you snuck out like a… like a thief in the night!” She lowers her voice, glancing at a passing couple. “Why would it be any different now?” Before I can answer, she raises her hand. “Don’t answer that. I don’t even care. I don’t want any more lines, Michael.”
I open my mouth to explain when a man approaches, one of those in-between men who skirt the edges of the law. “Rafael, old friend!” he yells, clapping me on the arm.
“Look, sorry, I’m busy.”
“But later, yes? Later?”
Fate is having a field day.
Ava laughs as her eyes glitter, holding back tears. The mix of pain shielded behind the brave front she’s putting up guts me. “Rafael?”
“I gave you a fake name,” I admit.
“Of course you did, playboy.”
“I thought you were dead, Ava. And I’m not a goddamn playboy.”
I step forward and take her hand. She makes a small, broken noise. For a precious moment, she lets me hold her, then she quickly yanks her hand away. “If you do that again, I’ll scream. I mean it.”
My chest tightens at her words. “Ava, Christ. Who do you think I am?”
Another laugh, this one laced with acid. “I honestly have no clue who you are,Rafael.”
Right, stupid question.
Neither of us speaks for a long time. But she doesn’t run. I count that as a small victory. All I want is to pull her into a hug and hold her tight, feel her warmth pressed against me so I know she’s real, know she’s safe and breathing. To convince my thudding heart.
I almost tell her why I left her that night.
I woke and found myself watching her, struck by how beautiful she looked in a deep, peaceful sleep, a soft smile resting on her face. Then I went to her window. There I saw several men outside. With guns. Intent on doing me harm. If I’d stayed, it would’ve meant putting her in danger. Dragging her into my hell.
“How…” I lick my lips. “How have you been?”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “So, what? You want to catch up, huh?”
The mafia king comes out. I can’t help it. “I fucked up, Ava. I wish I hadn’t left you like I did. But dammit, we can just talk…”
“I don’t know what world you’re in if you think you can show up suddenly and make demands.”
I take a step forward. Then another. She makes a breathy gasp, tilting her head to look up at me. Behind the sass and the earned anger, there’s something else. The same spark I saw in her the night we met. The spark that finally, for the first time in my blood-red life, stopped the world from spinning so fast.
“I’m not lying to you, Ava. I thought you weredead.”
