Page 139 of The Kiss Of Death
“Dalia, I’m so sorry, please—”
I clenched my fist, my arm trembling.
I’ll never forgive him.
“I tried to make up for it every day. I prayed to God. I donated to charity. I tried to make up—”
“Stop!” A scream tore my throat. “How can you still deal with them? After everything they took from us?”
I can’t do this right now.I rushed down the stairs, my breath ragged, tears blurring my vision. With each pounding downward stride, my heart broke more and more. Behind me, Levi’s footsteps followed mine, my trembling legs refusing to carry me faster than him.
He caught up, positioning himself in front of me, his hand blocking my path. “Dalia, wait!”
I pushed him away, pacing toward the door. “No, you both lied to me! You betrayed me. All this time, you were using me! What was I to you? No more than a pawn, right? I thought you had forgiven me. I thought you got over this!”
“Everything changed, Dalia. I didn’t know what I felt for you back then. I thought it was hatred, but—”
“All this time, you knew how guilty I felt, how hurt I was. But still, you kept that information so you could buy your way in with my father! You didn’t trust me, Levi. It’s what you do with everyone. You want to keep the upper hand!”
I stormed in front of Grandma, balancing a cauldron of soup, her smile faltering at the sight of me.
Levi’s hand closed around mine, wrenching me to face him.I can’t look at him.“Please, Dalia, let’s talk about this.”
“I don’t trust you anymore, Levi.”
I finally found the courage to drown in his heavy gray eyes. I saw the tumultuous skies of an impending storm, swirling like dark clouds on the horizon. It felt as though each raindrop carried a fragment of my shattered heart within the depths of his gaze.
“Congratulations, you got what you wanted,” I muttered. “I broke. You took fucking everything from me.”
“No.” He was still clutching my hand, strands of black hair falling across his forehead, concealing the deep furrow of his brows. “I chose you, Dalia. We could be together without you having to worry about your father controlling your life.”
I withdrew my hand from his grasp. “Butyou’recontrolling mine.”
“I’m protecting you,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“Those men deserve to pay for what they did, and you just thought it was better to say nothing and let them hurt more people?” I lashed out, my lower lip shaking. “I didn’t take you for a coward!”
“The world is ugly. You can’t change that,” Levi spat out, his teeth clenched in anger. His eyes reddened with fury. “I don’t care about the others as long as you’re not hurt, and you’ll never be hurt again because I’m here. I can—”
“As if not knowing the truth for years about your mother didn’t hurt you, right? How would you feel if Patrice was doing what he did to you to everyone else?” I screamed, my chin held high. “We’re done, Levi.”
“Done,” he repeated the words like they were acid to his throat. “No. You can hate me and hurt me all you want, but we’re not done.”
“Yes, we are.” I anchored my feet firmly to the ground, refusing to yield to my pain. “I forgave you for everything you did—stalking me, breaking my violin, insulting me, humiliating me. I forgave you because I thought you had a heart inside, but you’re just a monster who only cares about himself. I want to hurt you!”
He surged toward me, his towering frame closing in on mine. Our foreheads were mere centimeters away from colliding. His breath was hot against my skin, his mouth hovering dangerously close to mine.
“Then hurt me, but don’t hurt yourself.” His strained voice caught in a choked whisper, teetering on the brink of breaking down.
“What’s happening?” Grandma’s voice trembled.
“Dalia—” My father’s words halted as he stood frozen on the stairs.
I tore myself away from Levi, letting his demons consume him like a raging fire, devouring what was left of his heart. Straightening my spine, I faced my father. “What’s happening, Grandma, is that Father here is responsible for Mom’s death, and he’s a fucking coward, and my boyfriend…” My lips quivered, but I refused to let him see how deeply he had shattered me. “My boyfriend, who hates my father to the core, was helping him cover up this mess so he could have me! So we would be a happy family while they both kept lying to me! I’m out of here. Sorry, Grandma.”
The cauldron slipped from Grandma’s hands, crashing to the ground with a deafening shatter that reverberated in my ears like a gunshot.
“Dalia, stay here!” My father’s command rang out, but I refused to be controlled any longer. “You can’t leave right now. It’s too—”
