“I’m so sorry. It was stupid and I’ve regretted it every damn second of every day.” A tear falls down my cheek. “I love you still and always will.”
Ava sits up and wipes her face on her sleeve, showing me her face free of makeup.Damn, she is a beautiful disaster.
“I should be getting back to Rocco.” She lets go of my hand and stands from the bench.
“Wait! Come home with me. I leave tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t have a home with you anymore, Damien,” she says with an emotionless face.
“You should go home. Thank you again for saving me.”
I watch as she starts walking back to the villa until she turns to me.
“Who stabbed me, Damien?”
I stand and start walking towards her until she holds up her hand for me to stay back, so I stop. “It was … uh…” My hand instantly moves to my neck and I start nervously rubbing it.
“Spit it out.”
“Oliver. Oliver was the one who stabbed you.”
“Oliver?” Her eyes go wide for a brief moment. “Was it because of this ridiculous bet?” Avalyne looks like she can’t grasp how someone could be so twisted, and frankly, I can’t blame her.
“No. Not just the bet.” I say, fighting the rage igniting in me all over again at the memories of the day when Avalyne was stabbed. The darkest day of my entire existence. The day that has ruined my life ever since. “He knew he was my brother and wanted to claim everything that’s mine. Black Venom.You…”
She frowns as she nods. “That makes sense. He’s dead?”
Her lack of emotions tells me she is numb to the world. To me. To Rocco. To any excitement. It’s disturbing. Ava was the sun in a world full of darkness and I took that from her in more ways than one. I was greedy. But she deserves to know that her attempted killer isn’t running around with a knife ready to try again.
“Yeah, Ava. He’s gone. I promise.” I put my hand on my heart, hoping she knows I did it for her and her alone. I got revenge for her so she can sleep soundly at night, even if it is with a man.A man who isn’t me.
And just like that, she’s gone. Again.
I watch Avalyne walk away, barely refraining from running after her and stopping her. I have to use all of my willpower not to do that. I must respect her will. I must accept that she doesn’t want to be with me anymore. I did this to her. I did this to myself. To us. I fucking ruined everything, thinking I was doing the right thing. How deceitful can life be? Living a life as dangerous as mine feels like a constant game of chess. One wrong move and you lose everything. To me, everything means Avalyne DeLuca—a woman I loved and lost.
My phone chimes, intruding on the daunting silence. With my eyes still glued to the cobblestone path that Avalyne followed just a moment ago, I instinctively answer the phone. “Yes?” My voice is deep and my tone dry.
“Scorpion?” Viper’s cracking voice rumbles through the speaker, which can only spell disaster.
“What is it, Viper?” I hiss, demanding an answer.
“Black Widow…”
Viper hesitates and I swear I can hear her sobbing. It’s not like her. That woman never cries. She’s unbreakable. Dangerous. This is why my mother chose her as her right-hand woman. The tension is killing me and I rasp. “What about her?”
“Your mother is dead, Damien.”
DAMIEN
S
taggered, I walk through the lustrous hallways of this palatial villa. Everything around me is spinning. I can hardly stand still. I feel like I’m about to fall. Or perhaps I have already fallen like the world around me. I feel like everything I touch turns to ashes. First, Avalyne’s love for me. Her safety. Her entire life. I have shattered her entire world. She lost her father because of me. Now Black Venom. I failed as its leader. Black Widow is dead and so is her legacy. I fucking failed.
“Damien?” I hear Avalyne’s concerned voice but it’s muffled. I can’t see her face. My vision is a blur. “Damien, what happened? Are you okay?” She extends her hands to me, helping me remain to stand as I lean against the wall, defeated.
A single tear drops down my face, but she can’t see it. I bend my head, resting it against my arm and the wall, hiding it from Avalyne, hiding my pain from the world.
“Damien, please…” she pleads, but even her soothing voice isn’t enough to help me recover from this …agony.
