Page 171 of In Love and Revenge

Her face falls as she searches my eyes.

‘I’m sorry. I’ll make this right. I’ll be the man I should have been for you. One who would have deserved you,’ I say.

‘What do you mean?’

Panic tints her voice as I take a step backwards.

‘Rafael?’ she chokes.

She breathes out a deep sigh of relief as I take her hand inside mine and lift it back to the key that’s sitting inside the lock.

‘Okay, good idea. We can talk about this inside,’ she says as we turn it together and the door opens.

I wait for her to step through it, and then she turns to see why I’m not following her.

It’s what I’ve spent weeks wishing for. For her to invite me in. To talk. But I’ve been selfish, wanting her back becauseIlove and miss her. Hearing her cry over me,reallycry, has made everything clearer.

It’s time I put her first – properly this time.

‘I’m not him yet,’ I say, looking into her confused eyes. ‘But I will be. I promise.’

‘What?’ she whispers.

I pull her towards me, keeping my feet firmly on the other side of the doorway, where I belong. I screw my eyes shut as I press a weighted kiss to her forehead, allowing my lips to linger, basking in the feel of her smooth skin against them one final time.

‘I promise,’ I repeat gently.

‘Rafael?’

I turn away before I can see the hurt in her aquamarine eyes, and I stride to where I left my car last night.

I get inside and start the engine, pulling out into the road.

I try not to look, but my eyes betray me. Tears stream down her cheeks as she watches me leave. Tears I put there. Again.

She watches until I reach the corner. Her blond hair blows around her face softly in the breeze as I look at her one last time in my rearview mirror before I turn.

I have to fix this.

If she can’t love me again, then I need to find a way to set her free to love someone else.

There’s no other outcome I can accept and live with.

I can’t see my girl suffering because of me any longer.

Aurora Thorne won’t hate that she loves me for the rest of her days.

I’ll do whatever it takes.

Chapter 42

Aurora

One month later

‘Why the face like a slapped arse?’ Joe quips as I sit beside him in the small staff area in the garden.

‘No reason.’ I shrug, pretending to rub at a stain on my housekeeping uniform.