The fury in him was raw.
And all I could think was that for me, it wasn’t about dynasty or syndicate.
It was Alaric’s face on the screen.
My engagement turned to over.
My child spared.
And Luca’s whisper still inside me, heavy as a promise.
My phone buzzed again.
Bastion Crow: Did you see him last night?
I forced my hands steady, wiped at my eyes, and typed.
Can we meet?
Chapter Forty-Three
EMILIA
Bastion sat on the couch when I walked in. He didn’t look up right away, but I saw the tension.
“What happened?” He asked.
“You don’t know?”
His jaw clenched. “I know Luca didn’t come home until he was covered in blood.”
My eyes locked on him. “Is Luca okay?” The same wave of sickness ran through me. That had haunted me all day.
Bastion nodded.
I took a slow steady breath.
“I was at dinner with Alexander and the Vales,” I said, I noticed Bastion go tense. “Luca dragged me into a bathroom. I told him,” I felt the tears running, “I told him I was engaged.”
Bastion’s hands dropped from his face.
“And I told him goodbye.”
Bastion straightened slowly getting up from the couch.
“Because it’s going to kill me. When you just...” The tears ran down my face. “I can’t do this…just to be forgotten, again. With no warning.” I closed my eyes, took a deep breath.
“You two broke my heart. I wasn’t even worth a good-bye message. You just…”
My throat tightened. Bastion took a step closer and I took one step back before his hands cupped my face.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, his forehead against mine. “I’m so fucking sorry, baby.”
“No. You’renotsorry. Neither of you are.”
My arms wrapped around my ribs, holding myself together.
“I waited. For weeks. Formonths.I kept thinking maybe there was a reason. Maybe something had happened. I checked the hospital registries, theobituariesbecause it made more sense for you both to bedeadthan to ignore me for that long.”
