Page 134 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

Then, we deal with that somehow. But first, we fight like hell for her.

Okay.

I took a deep breath and turned the doorknob and pushed. The door wasn’t locked, and I felt a moment of hope, until I pushed the door all the way open after knocking softly to warn her I was coming in.

“Violet?” I called out.

Silence was the only thing that greeted me. I walked into the room and looked around. The internal lock to the hallway wasn’t in place, the closet door was open, and her tablet was on the nightstand.

She must have left while we were talking,Titan sighed, his voice dripping with disappointment.

I sat on her bed, feeling despair engulfing my soul.

We’re too late. She’s on her date with Elim.

I was going to be alone for the rest of my life, because I knew deep in my soul that there would never be another woman for Titan and me.

The fuck we are! We’re not too late until she chooses him! Go find her and beg her,Titan snarled.

Eli—

Can go fuck himself. No one is going to love her like we can.

Knowing it was now or never, I stormed out of the room and down the stairs as fast as my feet could move. I needed to stop this date before Elim made his move, and I lost my chance to make things right. I ran toward the offices and burst through the door, ready to do whatever it took and beg Violet to give me a chance.

Except she wasn’t in there.

The room looked cozy. A movie menu was on a projector against the wall. There was a tray of food on a small coffee table next to a blanket on the floor surrounded by pillows. Candles were lit around the room. It looked intimate and romantic, and my knees almost gave out, thinking Violet had left with Elim already.

Instead of sinking down to the ground, I turned around, intending to search for them and try to make my case, no matter how much of an asshole that made me. A crumpled piece of paper lying on the ground by the door caught my eye. I picked it up and straightened the paper.

Violet,

Don’t freak out. I didn’t do this for us. I did it for you and Chris. Don’t be mad, but I saw him watching you last night, and that’s why I asked you to trust me and kissed you. He’s alwayswatching over you. You two love each other. It’s clear to anyone who sees you together, and I’m not going to try to get in the middle of that.

I did meddle a little, though. I hope it works. If Chris doesn’t burst through the door wanting to kill me, and whisk you away as you deserve in the next twenty minutes, text me, and we’ll have that friendly movie night as we planned, and stick pins into a voodoo doll. I have a piece of his shirt with some blood to make it work. If you don’t text me, I’ll assume this worked, and things will go back to normal for all of us.

Hugs,

Elim

Fuck. I knew I liked that guy. But then, that begged the question: Where was she? Did she read the note and run off when she thought I might run inside looking for her?

I didn’t have long to wait for an answer as I heard tiny, delicate sniffles approaching the conference room. Violet stepped into the room, and froze when she saw me. Her eyes were rimmed red, and she was holding a black trash bag in one hand.

Was she upset Elim didn’t show up?

“What are you doing here, Chris?” she demanded, snatching the letter from my hand and putting it in the trash bag.

She walked over to one of the candles and blew it out. She stopped and looked around, grabbed a cup from the coffee table and poured the melted wax into it before dumping the candle into the trash bag.

“I wanted to talk to you,” I answered, as she kept her back to me and methodically snuffed out candle after candle, dumping the wax into the cup and putting the candle into the bag.

“You have until I’m done cleaning up to talk,” she warned.

“I—” I took a step toward her, but stopped. “Can you stop and look at me?”

“No. Talk, then leave,” she replied, and I could hear the quiver in her voice.

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