Page 92 of Captivated By You

Her smile, filled with the same compassion as earlier, broke me in two.

“You can’t stop me.”

“I won’t let this tear us apart. Not this.”

“Ash, please.” She hitched a sob. “I… I can’t think properly. I need time. Space.”

“What if you bump into Barlow? You’re better off here, with me.”

“I won’t bump into him. I don’t plan to leave the house. I just want my mom. I need my family around me right now.”

“What about me? Aren’t I enough to comfort you? I love you. Surely that has to be enough?”

She pressed her palm to my cheek, and I covered it with mine, begging her with my eyes to hold on, to let me help her, to let me be with her.

“You are one of the kindest, most beautiful souls in the world, Ash. And I love you, too. But I have to go. I can’t stay here.”

She made to move around me.

I swooped in front of her, hands outstretched, pleading eyes boring into hers, begging her to see me. See us. See that none of this mattered. See that, together, we were strong enough to handle anything.

But the video had blinded her to the truth. My pleas fell on deaf ears, Kiana closed off to anything I might say. She’d made up her mind, and I was powerless to stop her.

My arms dropped to my sides. “When are you coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you are coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Kiana. For God’s sake, don’t throw away what we have. Don’t let him win. Not over this.”

“He hasn’t won.” She picked up my hands and held them in hers. “Please, just give me the time and the space I’ve asked for.”

“You’re not giving up on us?”

She didn’t respond, just raised up onto the balls of her feet and kissed my cheek. I closed my eyes, memorizing the feel of her lips on my skin in case this was the last time I ever felt them.

“Let me know you got home safely.”

“I will.”

I opened the door, pausing on the threshold. I glanced back at her. She seemed smaller somehow, shrunken, because of that bastard.

“This isn’t the end, Kiana. You’re my future. I’ll never give up on you, on us. I will give you the time you’ve asked for, but you and I, we’re meant to be together. As much as the world seems in chaos right now, when you emerge from the other side, you’ll realize that, too. And when you do, I’ll be waiting.”

I walked away quickly, before the strength to leave her deserted me.

Chapter27

Kiana

Time’s up, bastard.

I stared at my phone,praying for the courage to make the call.

Three days had passed since I’d returned to Chicago. Three days since the video of me having sex with my ex-boyfriend had gone viral. Three days since the love of my life, along with his entire family—and mine—had been subjected to a sight they shouldn’t ever have borne witness to.

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