“No!Because you’re StefanofuckingCastello and Iknowyou.I’ve been invading every crevice of your life since I was fifteen.I.Know.You.Words and wiles are your weapons, wielded expertly to lure the unsuspecting.The loves of your life?Money and power.You’re bored with life.You’re bored with yourself.So you go out and deliberately make enemies, piss people off, or chase anything that’s a challenge.A mystery.
“That’swhy you came after me.I was amysteryto you.And that’s why I knew you would hunt me to the ends of the earth.You don’t like to lose.Now you’re suddenly in love with me, after finding out who I am?No, Stefano.You’re not in love withme.You’re in love with what I represent.”
For several tense beats of silence, he merely watches me with that infuriating see-right-through-me stare.Then, “I see you’ve moved on from numbing to self-sabotage.”
Fuck him.
Fuck him.
FUCK.HIM.
“What’s the agreement, Stefano?”I slam my coffee mug down, dark liquid sloshing over the rim.“Just tell me and get it over with.”
He scoots his chair back and rubs his palms along his linen-clad thighs.Calm and measured.“Come here.”
“Will I hate what you’re about to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t want me anywhere near you.Trust me.”
His impassive stare latches on to my glare.“I’m not afraid of you, Soraya.”
You should be.He hasn’t the slightest clue how fucked in the head I really am.And yet, I would set the world on fire to keep him warm.
“But…” He nods once.“I understand.”
“What’sthe agreement?”
He looks down for a brief moment, then back at me.“JB made it clear she doesn’t approve of us.Said since she can’t kill me, she’ll make it her mission to ensure we don’t have a moment’s peace together,” he says.“Threatened to make my life hell and our relationship miserable.To assign you projects that would make it impossible for us to even see each other.”
That woman just doesn’t know how to accept defeat.Still clinging to the delusion that she has the same hold over me she once did.
“Unless you agreed to her terms, yes?”I cross my arms.“Come on, let’s hear it.”
“After spending no more than one week with you here…” He takes a breath.“I go back home and cut all ties with you for one full year.”
Trust JB to knowexactlywhere to plunge the knife, how to twist it so the wound never heals.“How long did it take you to agree to that?”
“Two days.”
“And you didn’t think to demand to speak to me first?”I ask with a calmness I don’t feel.“You didn’t think there might be a reason she came toyouwith this bullshit and not me?”
He stands and closes the space between us.
“Was this a verbal agreement, or did she make you blood-ink it?”
“The latter.”
No way out, then.He’s locked in.
“I’ll never forgive Dad for this.”I sag back against the counter.“Just this once, he was supposed to be on my side.Just this fucking once.”I glare up at Stefano and punch his chest.“Youwere supposed to be on my side.But you’re just like them.They hate me.You hate me.I’m last.I’m always fucking last!”
Stefano dodges out of the way as I grab my coffee mug and hurl it across the room.
“Why can’t I have anything, huh?What the fuck did I do to deserve this life?Theyfucked me up.Why am I here?Why am I alive?They had no business having kids.They fucked me up!They—”
Stefano pulls me into him, his embrace firm but gentle.Warm and comforting.And for the second time in days, I’m caught off guard by my own damn tears.Stupid, malfunctioning tear ducts.
