Page 75 of Obsession & Oath

I feel the air between us heavy, suffocating. The tears I’ve been holding back, the ones Iknewwould come, finally spill over, and I don’t care enough to stop them.

I wipe my eyes roughly, trying to gather myself, but it’s no use. “It’s fine. I knew from the moment I got here that…it didn’t matter what I did, what you might become to me. This was always going to end like this. You would always go back to the Guild.”

He looks at me for a long time, the silence heavy between us, before he finally speaks again. “It’s not just the Guild. Carmen, if the war ends, I can come back here for real. I can be with my mother and take my place in the Grasso di Ferro.Youmade me want that.”

“Just not with me, right?” I whisper.

And I wish I could say it doesn’t hurt. I wish I could say that it wouldn’t break me the way it’s breaking me now.

But it does.

At that moment, a horrible clarity settles over me. It’s as though everything falls into place, fitting together with an awful, inevitable precision.

I realize that, if I had the chance, I would have given up anything—everything—to stay here, in Italy, with him. To keep living in the space we’ve created, to keep lying to myself that maybe there was a future for us.

But Dante doesn’t want that.

“Carmen…”

I take a deep breath and, for the first time in weeks, I put on a mask. A mask that’s cold, controlled, and composed. It’s the same mask I’ve always worn when I have to protect myself from the world. But this time, it’s for him. For Dante.

“You’re right,” I say, my voice smooth, but it feels foreign, detached. “We’re not...we can’t do this anymore, Dante. There’s no point in pretending.”

He opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off, shaking my head. “This ends now. For both of us.”

Without another word, I turn on my heel, walking briskly away from him. The silence is almost deafening as I cross the ballroom, the cold air pressing down on me as if the space itself is mourning what we had.

I don't look back.

For the first time in months, I am completely, utterly alone.

Chapter21

Dante

The silence in the ballroom is oppressive.

I should’ve stopped her. Should’ve said something—anything—but I couldn’t. I couldn’t because I knew what she said was true.

But God, I didn’t think it would end like this. I didn’t think she would be the one strong enough to walk away. I should have done it; I should have stopped this before…

Well.

Before it felt like I’d been cut in half. Like the parts of me that I’ve kept hidden could all come rushing to the surface, demanding to be felt.

She’s right. She’s always been right, and I’ve spent the last few months deluding myself that I was doing the right thing, that I could somehow have both—Carmen and the Guild. But how could I have been so fucking naive?

I thought I could protect her—keep her safe in the little world we built for ourselves in this place. I thought maybe, just maybe, I could convince her that this could be something more.

But I was wrong.

She’s gone. And the fucking worst part? I can’t blame her.

She was never meant to be a part of this life. I knew that deep down. I knew the day we crossed that line that she was only ever meant to be a part of a fantasy I had created for myself. A fantasy I couldn’t keep.

The ache in my chest is unbearable now. I reach for the nearest chair, my hands shaking as I grip it, my knuckles going white. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it.

I try to breathe, but it feels like I’m suffocating. All I can think about is her….the way she looked at me when she said those words—cold, final. It was as if everything between us shattered in an instant.

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