Page 86 of Something New

She brushes the back of her hand across her cheek to wipe away a tear.

“Please leave, Tuomo. Please just get the fuck out.”

“No.” I snap. “I won’t let you kick me out of your life when I have fought so hard to be here. I won’t leave until you understand how much I love you.”

“But I need you to go.” She says between tears.

I wrap my hand around her face. “Please, my love. Let me be with you.”

She shakes her head, and my heart sinks to the churning pit of my stomach.

What have I done?

I’ve ruined everything.

I am always the disappointment.

My father was right about me all along.

I never deserved someone like her. I never deserved to be happy.

And she doesn’t deserve to be trapped in a life with a monster like me.

I take the ring I had made especially for her, and I slip it onto her finger.

She stares at it. I wait a long moment, but her silence is breaking me. I can’t take much more of this.

“This is yours regardless of your choice. It was made for you. It belongs to you.”

She looks up at me.

The pain I see in her eyes is like a blade piercing my heart.

What if I have lost her forever?

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Nerissa

Tuomo is staring at me and my heart is cracking and breaking to small pieces. I feel as though I will never be ok again. I am falling apart right in front of his eyes. The pain in my chest is agony that I never thought I would ever have to experience.

Just when I allowed myself to love him. Just when I was excited for our future together - I can’t believe he has done this.

I want nothing more than to love this man. I want to give my heart and soul to him, but what I found out today has shocked me to my core. It isn’t ok. It isn’t normal to do this to someone.

I don’t know what to do.

He holds my hand in his and pushes the diamond ring onto my finger. I stare at it.

It’s gorgeous. I have seen nothing like it. The unique design tugs at my heart because it is obvious he has put a lot of thought into making this ring. He has been waiting for when he could slip it onto my finger as he has just done.

But I am sure that this is not how he imagined it happening.

“This is yours regardless of your choice. It was made for you. It belongs to you.”

The weight of it on my finger and it feels right. It was made for me.

It has never and will never belong to another person because it was always meant to be mine.

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