Chapter Thirty-Two
Mia
Bang!
There goes the sound of a future now effectively destroyed. Those are the words of a jealous mess, which, thanks to myself and my poor decision-making skills, I am.
“What?”
“Your mother did warn me, that bitch,” I say, laughing humorlessly at the honesty in her manipulation. “She warned me about this and now, she won.”
“Courtney didn’t win a damn thing!” Julian seethes. “And I’m not marrying Roxanne Bishop or her twin or whoever else from their household.”
“Courtney showed me the contracts. They’re already signed. so don’t treat me like I’m fucking crazy, Julian or I swear I’ll lose it,” I cry. I’m dangerously close to losing it anyway, so why the fuck not? “I fooled myself into thinking I could forget about it, but I can’t so please Julian, just go.”
But I should know better than push Julian Fitzgerald. He never plays fair. He pushes right back.
“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me,” he says seriously. “I know you hate me for what I did. I know I fucked up and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but baby, you can’t really think that I would marry someone else, do you?”
“Like that would be new,” I seethe as I cry with my chin against my chest, feeling his body behind me.
“What?”
It’s like we mold together in some way. I know he can feel my tremors and I… I can feel his heart go haywire against my back.
“Your father did it. He signed that contract and married Courtney when he loved Nancy and now years later, after lying to the world that they were divorced, guess what, they’re still married.”
After everything, I’d be a fool not to learn from history.
“Well news flash, Mia, I’m not my fucking father!” he snaps behind me.
Then in a move that stuns me, seeing as he only has one working arm, he flips me until I’m straddling him in my bed. But that’s not enough for him.
He fiddles with some buttons of the hospital bed, until it rises giving until he leans back on the back rest, moving with me until we’re both eye level.
Julian cups my bruised up face in the palm of his calloused hand with a tender intent to it that makes me feel helpless and on the verge of surrender, forcing me to look at him. “I’m not John and you are not Nancy! Hell, you’re not even your mother, Nicky. You’re you, Mia.”
But history finds a way to repeat itself. Doesn’t he know that?
“Don’t look at me when I’m like this,” I whisper, feeling ashamed and embarrassed. I pull back my face, trying to evade his touch, but he doesn’t let me.
“You’re fucking beautiful, Mia,” he whispers against my cheek.
“No, I’m not.” Not right now. I look horrible, my tummy knots up.
“You are stunning. You have no idea, do you?” he whispers. “The world’s been trying to beat you down, snuff out your light, but damn it all to hell if anyone can win against you, Little Minx.”
It’s the unexpected, genuine gentleness of his words that grips me by the throat. I don’t have a candle in holding in the tears at all and when he leans in and kisses the tip of my nose. This time, I really fall apart.
Mute, I shake my head.
“You’re stunning, baby,” he whispers again. “You shouldn’t have gone through all that bullshit.”
“But I did.”
“I know,” he grits out, watching me. “Why else would I be this fucking livid?”
“You’ll get over it.”
“I don’t think so. I can’t sleep, can’t breathe, I’m fucking sure I’m fucked for life but there’s one thing that’s been plaguing me,” he grits out. “Why, Mia?”
“What?” I whisper.
“You could have avoided this whole thing and let me fucking rot behind bars for not believing you that day, why did you do it?”
I look down at the bandages around his bare chest. I can’t believe he walked through fire just to save me.
“I shouldn’t have, right?” I mumble.
“It would’ve been so easy. I know that much.”
He’s really angry. I can see he blames himself, the guilt churning in his eyes, I can almost feel it in the way he’s touching me, unable to keep his hands off of me, like he’s trying to reassure himself that I’m real.
“No, it wouldn’t have been,” I whisper. “I couldn’t let my father set you up like that and do nothing. I couldn’t stop whatever plans Courtney had for you, but I knew if I could just gather up all the evidence that could exonerate you, your case would be thrown out and your name cleared of everything.”
“Why, Little Minx?” he mutters. At my silence, an animalistic growl sounds from him as he places two fingers under my chin and forces me to look up. “Why did you do all that, including faking amnesia, for an asshole like me?”
He’s an asshole all right. And against my better judgement and survival instincts, I just… I love him. Which was mistake numero uno.
“Isn’t it obvious?” I mutter, feeling a bitter, ashy taste of the truth hanging heavy on the tip of my tongue as I stare into the molten green orbs that see everything. “Despite all the evidence that says otherwise and everyone who says you and I don’t belong together. I chose not to listen and went right ahead and fell.”
And God did I fall. So fucking hard.
“I fell for you so hard only to discover when I woke up naked in the freezer of an abandoned warehouse, shivering and mortified to death with a foggy mind, that I had fallen into a grave, with wanting you.”
“Mia—”
“No, let me say it,” I cry. “I fell in love with you, Julian, years ago and you… you never did quite forgive me for what I did to Aiden, did you?”
“No, baby, that’s not it at all,” he whispers in a rush, the pain in his eyes so deep, so violent, I feel it in my soul. “I mean, I know better now. I know you had no control over the tabloids, the reporters and the way they ambushed you. I know that bastard was manipulating you.”
Oh my God, he knows!
“How?”
A chill settles in his eyes that snakes its way down my own spine.
“Let’s just say some hard truths had to be faced in the hours you were taken from me.”
Taken from him… Jesus.
“Well,” I say, clearing my throat. “I’m glad you know, because I… I could never do anything to hurt you, Julian,” I croak. “I’d never make up lies about you or your family. I’d never just sit there and let you get hurt. I would jump in the fire for you. I’d fight for you.”
“I’d do the same thing,” he grits out. “Mia, I’d set this fucking world on fire just to get to you.”
And he did. God, he came for me… when I thought he wouldn’t. And maybe that was the eye-opener I needed.
“Thank you for that,” I whisper. “Thank you so much for coming for me.”
“Baby, don’t you already know by now?” he groans, pulling me closer. “I told you before. I’d find you anywhere. I’d come for you anywhere.”