I step closer, fury flaring up my throat. “What, you think you can just fuck my dead mom and everything’s gonna be fine? Like we’re just gonna stay what the fuck we are?”
His jaw tightens, red eyes locked on mine, unmoving.
“Is that what you thought, huh?” I press, folding my arms, challenging him.
“No,” he says low.
“No,” I echo before stepping back. “Well, good. Because I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“I don’t fucking think so,” he bites back, the words coming out like a growl.
My eyes narrow, shooting daggers at him, but I don’t step back.
“I’m not staying here, and you can’t make me.” I say it louder this time, but the tightness in my chest makes it harder to keep my voice steady.
He takes another step forward, and my body stiffens, instinctively preparing for the impact I know is coming.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want, Allure. I’m not letting you go that easy. You’re mine.”
A surge of anger floods through me and my vision blurs as I fight to keep it together, but the tears spill over, burning down my face.
“I’m sick of being everyone’s!” I scream, the sound raw and desperate, a jagged crack of vulnerability I’ve been holding in too long.
My lip quivers, and my whole body shakes, the tension in me breaking free.
“This is all your fault,” I shout, my finger trembling as I point at him, tears streaming down my face. “If you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t be living this nightmare. Everything I had was ruined because of you! You killed my mom, you fuckingchoseto destroy everything!”
His red eyes flash, and he growls low, anger and pain mixing in his voice. “Choose?” he snarls. “I was a fucking child. You think I had a choice?”
“So what?!” I snap back, the words tearing out of me.
For a split second, I see something shift in his expression—hurt, regret, something real. He looks away quickly, but I feel the guilt stab at me like a knife. I’m not sure if I want to take it back or dig it in deeper.
He nods once, his eyes avoiding mine now.
“I’ll wait for you, Aurelia,” he says quietly, his voice quieter but full of certainty.
I feel him moving toward me before I can even react and I take a step back, then another, until my back hits the wall. His body looms over mine, forcing me to stay still.
He tilts my jaw gently, lifting my face to meet his, but I keep my eyes firmly shut.
“I know you’re hurt, beautiful. And unfortunately, I’m the cause,” he murmurs, his thumb wiping away a tear that I didn’t even know had fallen. “You’ve been through so much, too quick. Things you never fucking deserved.”
His words coil around my chest, suffocating me, and for a second, I feel that familiar ache of wanting to surrender, to fall into him, even though I know I can’t.
When his thumb brushes over my cracked bottom lip, and eyes flutter open, locking with his.
“I want to be there for you,” he murmurs, his voice rough but steady. “I really fucking do. But I’m big enough to know when you need your space... and when I’m the problem.”
The words hit me harder than I expect, and I feel the sting of his honesty deep in my chest. He leans down, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to the corner of my mouth, his lips barely touching my skin.
“I don’t want us to break what’s already so fucking fragile,” he whispers. “I can’t lose you, my little corpse. Not today. Not fucking ever.”
I want to reach for him, call out, but I can’t move and he’s already stepping back, that warmth, that safety, slowly slipping away from me.
The door clicks shut behind him, and the silence that follows is suffocating. I just stand there, staring at the empty space he left.
Chapter Thirty-Four
