Page 175 of In Love and Revenge

He exhales. ‘It’s a long story.’

‘Why did you do it?’ I whisper.

‘Because it needed to be done.’

‘Thank you,’ I breathe, because there are no words great enough to describe how grateful I am to him in this moment.

He gifts me with one of his rare smiles and it’s like feeling the sun on my face for the first time in nearly two months.

‘You’re welcome, Aurora,’ he says simply.

I wait for him to climb down from the helicopter. But instead, he ducks inside and says something to the pilots. They put their headsets back on and start flicking switches.

‘Wait! You’re leaving?’

He looks at me, and for a fraction of a second I see the raw pain in his eyes, hidden beneath a smile that’s purely for my benefit.

‘This isn’t about us right now. It’s about you and your father.’

I shake my head, not wanting to believe what he’s saying.

‘You’re just going to leave again? I haven’t seen you in a month, and now you’re going already?’

The way he looks at me, like he wishes he could pull me into his arms, but won’t, wrenches a sob from my chest.

So much has happened, I can’t blame him. The months apart have felt like walking through hell. I know it was the same for him. Some things change you for good, and there’s no coming back from them.

‘Rafael?’ I breathe. ‘You’re done, aren’t you? With you and me?’

He jumps out of the helicopter, his eyes on fire.

‘No! I’m not done!’

He pulls me into his arms the exact moment my first tear breaks free.

‘I’ll love you more and more every day. Can’t you see that? I’ll never stop. This will never be done.Wewill never be done. I love you, Aurora. That could never be done.’

He cups my face in his hands, and I fist the front of his shirt.

‘But I haven’t seen you in weeks and you’re going again. I don’t understand.’

‘It needs to be this way. You need time with your father.’

‘I need you too!’

He tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

‘I hope you listen better than I did.’

‘Wha—’

‘Let me go, Aurora,’ he says softly.

‘No!’ I weep.

He brings his lips to mine in a tender goodbye kiss that makes my heart feel like it’s breaking all over again. I grip on tight, holding him to me so he can’t move away. And I kiss him the way I’ve missed doing since that night I walked away from him.

It’s a kiss that tells him I missed him.