Page 117 of The Sins of Noelle

Even the tears wouldn't come anymore. There was only a deep hole in her heart, becoming larger by the second until she feared she would become a shell of herself—a shadow of what it meant to be human. Unfortunately, there was only one cure.

Blue.

Her Blue.

And now…he was gone, too.

14Noelle

AGE EIGHTEEN

"Are we really going to keep doing this, Noelle?" Cisco asked in a weary tone as he escorted her out of the police station.

With only a few weeks until she turned eighteen, Noelle was running out of options just as she was becoming increasingly more desperate.

She might have been struck down momentarily in the past, but she was not going to submit to her fate without fighting back.

Unfortunately, Cisco always found ways to combat her ideas.

She'd just stolen his car, heading to the city when she'd been pulled over by the police. Despite the fact that she didn't really fancy getting into conflict with the law, she supposed that if she was behind bars she couldn't get married, could she?

Yet even that fact had been disproved when Cisco had been called to the station, and using his connection, he'd ensured that both of them walked away with only a slap on the wrist.

"Prison is better than the alternative," she huffed.

"Don't tell me this is still about that boy?" Cisco narrowed his eyes at her. "I thought we convened you're not to contact him again."

Noelle didn't reply, averting her gaze.

"Answer me, Noelle."

"What do you want me to say, Cisco?" She finally turned, narrowing her eyes at him. "It seems only some of us get to live their happily ever afters, isn't that right?" she added shakily.

"Noelle…"

"Deny it. I want to see you deny it! I told you I loved him, that I'd give everything up for him. But it seems only you're allowed to choose your spouse. Us, mere mortals don't get the same consideration."

"And you think he loves you so much he would risk jail for you?" Cisco suddenly asked, his expression thunderous.

"Yes," Noelle answered without thinking.

She was confident in their connection just as she was confident in the fact that he shared her feelings.

"If he loves you so much, then why the hell is he marrying another woman?"

Noelle came to a halt. She blinked, took a deep breath, then turned to face her brother.

"What did you say?" she asked in a whisper that echoed the pain in her breast.

"He's getting married," Cisco rolled his eyes. And to pour salt over the wound, he took out his phone, scrolling through some news articles before shoving it in her face.

There it was.

Right in front of her.

Rafaelo Guerra was getting married to a certain Assisi Lastra in two days' time. It would be a private event with only friends and family despite the elevated status the Guerras had in NYC society.

"No," Noelle whispered.

---