Page 57 of Leo

He wondered if he had misjudged everything. Had he pushed too hard? Expected too much? The image of her sitting alone in the darkened room haunted him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Despite the anger and frustration that churned within him, he couldn't help but feel a pang of empathy. She was scared and he acknowledged that. Everything had spiraled so quickly.

One minute they were entering into a fake marriage for the sake of her aunt and receiving her inheritance and the next they were intimate.

She blamed him for not using anything, but that was so bloody unfair. The lovemaking had not been planned. Yes, he had fervently hoped things would progress between them, but she had been as much a part of it as he was.

He could not face her, not right now. He had been tempted to shake some sense into her, to lash out because of the hurt and pain. But he felt rage churning inside him, and he could not go back feeling this way. If he did, there would be no going forward. And maybe there was not at this point. He had some thinking to do.

He pulled over to the side of the road, the weight of his emotions pressing down on him. He needed to find a way to reach her, to make her see that they could face this together.

But how? The thought of losing her, of walking away and never looking back, was unbearable. And yet, he could not force her to want the same things he did. He needed to give her space, but he also needed to make her understand just how much he cared.

With a heavy heart, he started the car again, the road ahead long and uncertain. He would give her time, but he would not give up. Not yet. There was too much at stake, too much to lose. He just hoped she would see that before it was too late.

*****

She lay there in bed, stiff as a board as she listened for his footsteps coming into the bedroom. He had been gone for hours, and she was getting worried.

Her thoughts were churning, and she had been sick in his absence, wretchedly ill, compounding her argument about this being so damned inconvenient. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep when she heard him coming to the room.

But she might have saved herself the effort. He did not approach the bed but went straight into the closet and took something out. Peeping through her lashes, she saw him selecting clothing for tomorrow. Without even glancing at the bed, he made his way through the dividing door and into what she knew was another suite.

The doors closed with a finality that sent a sharp twinge through her heart. She could go to him, ask for his forgiveness and risk him rejecting her. But somehow, she knew that an apology was not going to work this time. He needed time to himself, and she would give it to him. She needed time herself and was going to take it.

Sleep eluded her as she lay in the silent room, the darkness pressing in on her thoughts. She had always prided herself on being strong, on standing firm in the face of adversity. But now, she felt her resolve crumbling, the weight of her decisions bearing down on her like a heavy shroud.

The pastry shop, her dream, had become a fortress, shutting out everything that once mattered. She did not mean for it to be this way, didn't foresee how much it would cost her. The ambition that once fueled her now seemed like a relentless tide, pulling her further from the shore of their shared life.

She thought of the moments they had laughed together, the tender exchanges that spoke of a future brimming with possibilities. It pained her to think those moments might be lost, drowned out by the cacophony of her relentless pursuit of success.

Her heart ached with the realization that she had let fear and ambition drive a wedge between them. The dream she had worked so hard to build felt hollow without him by her side.

Turning over, she gazed out the window, the moonlight casting an ethereal glow over the room. She knew she had to find a way back to him, to bridge the chasm that had formed between them.

In the other room just a few feet from where she lay, Leo linked his hands beneath his head and stared up at the intricate pattern of the ceiling. He had taken a gamble and had lost. The loss was so keen, he could feel it cutting into his very soul.

He felt an unbearable emptiness, a void that seemed to grow with each passing moment. The silence of the suite was deafening, amplifying the turmoil within his heart. Leo knew she was just a few feet away, but the emotional distance between them felt like an insurmountable chasm.

The memories of their happier times flooded his mind, taunting him with what they once had. The way she laughed, the sparkle in her eyes when she talked about her dreams, the warmth of her touch – all these moments felt like a distant dream now.

He had pushed her into a relationship. He thought of his damned arrogance. How he had jumped at the chance of being her fake husband, thinking that it would lead to the real thing. Well, the bloody joke was on him, wasn’t it. He inhaled sharply, feeling the pain of his heartbreak taking over.

He wanted to hate her. Oh, how he wished he could march right in that room and tell her to get the hell out of his life. But under the hurt and pain, love beat like a living thing, and it sickened him that he was so vulnerable to her.

Perhaps this was his damn punishment. He had avoided any sort of meaningful relationship all his life. Now for the first time he was in love and his feelings were not reciprocated. He had felt hope that she was coming to love him, even a tiny bit the way he loved her.

What if she was still hung up on that bastard? It pained him to think that she had been willing to marry the guy, while his own proposal had been shoved back at him.

“Well, no more.” He whispered fiercely. “I am done.”

Chapter 13

He was gone the next morning. The scent of coffee had her stomach churning. Moving lethargically through the kitchen, she made tea. The housekeeper would not be here for the next two hours, and she wanted to leave before the woman arrived.

Sitting at the malachite counter, she took a look around the immaculate kitchen that was the housekeeper’s domain. She had invaded it quite a few times after hours, after the housekeeper left to try out some of the recipes she had picked up when they traveled to Europe. Thoughts of the trip sent memories flooding through her mind.

He had made it memorable for her. Going out of his way to put things in place. He had not realized of course that Paris had been the destination for her and Greg. Their honeymoon destination. Unlike that bastard who had broken her heart, Leo had bent over backwards to make her happy.

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