Page 60 of Redeem

Broke my heart.

She stood, let the blanket that she had been holding in a death grip fall to the floor.

She walked closer to me, then closer, her eyes growing more intense with each second that passed. She stopped in front of me, stared up at me, looking as though she would explode at any second, and put her finger into my chest. “Get. The. Fuck. Out.”

She turned then, put her back to me, everything in her stance telling me that there would be no talking to her, no convincing her to give me a chance.

Still, something inside me wanted to stay, wanted to fight with her, make her listen, make her understand.

“I—”

She shook her head sharply, the violent motion making the thin necklace she wore around her neck tremble. But there was no give in the rest of her, no break. Her back was a rigid line, her shoulders set in a firm stance, one that left me no other conclusion.

I wanted to stay, wanted to tell her how sorry I was, tell her how much I loved her.

I didn’t do either.

Instead, I left.

Twenty-Three

Dana

Listening to him leave shattered my already broken heart.

It shouldn’t have been that way.

I should’ve been happy, relieved. At the very least, I should have been desperate for his blood, wanting to seek the vengeance he had talked about just minutes ago.

But I didn’t, didn’t feel any of those things at all.

All I felt was the stabbing ache, the numbness that came after my heart had shattered yet again.

It really had been so simple for him to come here, tell me the story about how he had had his awakening, how he wanted to make amends.

And what then?

I’d wanted to ask the question, had needed to, but I’d held my tongue. There was nothing left to say, nothing I could say that would make any of that okay.

There was nothing at all, nothing but me again, alone as I always was, left to pick up the pieces.

I didn’t know if I’d be able to this time.

I told myself for years that I was destined to be alone. Then he had ripped away that belief so callously, had made me think there might be another way.

I wouldn’t recover.

There was no way I could.

Ciprian had made me hope again, and now that hope had been cruelly torn away. I’d thought my exterior was impenetrable, so rough that I would be forever protected.

What a fucking joke.

He’d ripped through those walls, any protection I might have had. And he’d gotten to a place no one else ever had. He’d gotten to my heart, to my soul.

And then, once he’d gotten to the very core of me, ripped away all my defenses, he’d revealed the truth. It was as though fate laughed at me for being haughty enough, hopeful enough, to think I might have a chance.

Worst of all, despite my angry words, I knew if I had looked at him, knew that if he’d just asked, I would have let him stay.

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