Tobias speaks up. “The truth is my parents died in a horrible accidental fire started by a very scared and pregnant teenage girl.”
“And you forgave her?”
“I had to. One day maybe you will too.”
“I don’t know how much forgiveness I have left in me.”
He silently nods. Even though he looks defeated, there’s a calmness inside him, one I haven’t seen in years.
“You seem…different.”
“Seeing you…you coming back here has stirred up shit…shit I’ve been avoiding for too long.”
“Well I hope you make peace with it, life is short, Dominic taught us that. But my opponent was never invisible.” He keeps his gaze steady on mine. “You were always going to be the one who got the best of me. You knew it, I knew it, and I still fought it. But I’m giving myself a head start by giving you my queen, so, there’s your check.”
Silence. And I don’t know why I expected anything more.
“One thing’s for sure,” I say, “no matter how hard I fought it over the years, I am my mother’s daughter.” Confusion flits over his features, and I nod toward the letter. “Read it. It’s the same pathetic shit. I ended up living here all those years ago because my mother had the audacity to try and come back and win the heart of a man who didn’t love her enough to let her in on his secrets. Who couldn’t forgive her enough for being young and reckless. Who punished her for horrible mistakes he himself helped liberate her from, all the while loving her from afar because he refused to trust her enough to make her own decisions. My father slammed the door in her face. And it ruined her. It’s poetic justice, really.”
“Cecelia, I’ve never hated you.”
“Yes, you have, and I can’t afford to care. Loving you is way too expensive, and I’m not paying for it another minute. You’ve stolen enough from me, the rest I let you take, and you can fucking keep it.”
For once in my life, I’m okay with letting love lose.
I’ll forever be a foolish romantic, chasing the high, though no high will ever compete with the one I felt with him. It ends here.
I don’t know how to be both powerful and in love, and that’s my downfall.
We had our song, and it’s time to take us off pause and let the rest of our story play out. The way it was always going to.
Meggie fell for a priest. I fell for a prophet. We declared war on their calling and cause, and neither of us won.
But I’m keeping my love story, not because it included both martyr and sacrifice, or because it’s the story I wanted, it’s because I would never rewrite it. And I would live it all over again just for the chance to sing with him.
“I’ve finally found my reason to hate you, Tobias.” His eyes snap to mine. “Not because of our past, not because of the way you’ve pushed me away, but because of the way you’re punishing us both—the same way Roman did. Love isn’t an inconvenience, it isn’t a mistake, and the danger makes it all worth it. I walked through fucking fire for you. I survived hell for you. You don’t deserve me. You never deserved me, not at all. But I deserve you. I. Deserve. You. But it’s the king I deserve. It’s the king I want.” I clench my fists. “I loved the bastard I met, the thief that stole me, and the king who claimed me, but I refuse to love the coward. I hate the coward.”
Ripping my eyes from him, I pull another envelope from my purse and toss it at him. It thuds against his chest falling to rest on his wingtips. “An addendum to the original contract that will negate my shares in your company. It’s over. Ties broken. I’m letting you win. Goodbye, Tobias.”
My heart nags me with every step I take away from him, begging me to make it whole as I quietly close the door behind me.
“Should sell fast. Especially at the asking price. Are you sure you don’t want to start higher?”
I shake my head as she plants the ‘For Sale’ sign into the ground before securing it into place with a rubber mallet.
“I’ll contact you at the number you gave me.”
“Thank you.”
She glances around. “Such a beautiful place.”
“It is.” I can’t argue with her. It was a place built for a family. A blueprint that stemmed from unrealistic dreams of two people who spent a moment in love, meant for a family who never had the chance to exist.
Two dreams died in this house, but the foundation of those love stories is spectacularly similar. And now it is a reminder of all that was lost.
A fucking Greek tragedy with a Shakespearean twist.
And for all my efforts, I can’t at all renounce my name. I’ll forever be the Capulet without a Romeo.
There’s no gypsy to relieve us of our curse, no apothecary with a quick solution. All that dwells here is a painful history repeating itself.
And so the story goes.
All are punished.
I nod as she secures the lockbox around the door when I spot the envelope tucked into it.
“I’m going to take off, but I’ll be in touch. I’m taking Melinda to lunch for referring me for the listing.”
“Please tell her I said goodbye, and thank you for your help,” I say absently, taking the envelope in hand, thumbing the contents inside.
My heart lurches at the weight of it.
Several minutes later, I collect my bag as my car pulls up. With one last walk through the house, I lock it up, leaving the key in the lockbox.
One last order of business and my life will again be my own.
Exiting the cab, my bag in hand, I hear the recognizable guitar licks of southern rock, lighting up at the sound of the familiar music. Just as I approach the bay, the sun beams from between the clouds, and I take it as a sign of encouragement. Insides rattling, I peek into the garage and see him hunched underneath the hood of a BMW.
The clanging of tools and an exhaled curse have a smile upturning my lips. I study him briefly, at least what I can see—dark jeans and greased tan work boots.
“Excuse me, sir.”
“Be right with you,” he replies sharply, his tone having nothing to do with me and everything to do with his frustration. My smile widens.
“I’m new in town, and I was just wondering if you knew where I could find some trouble to get into around here?”
His body tenses unmistakably in recognition before he slowly lifts, his upper half coming into view before he darts his head around the hood, and hazel eyes meet mine in an agonizingly familiar tug.
He’s still golden, his skin drenched from the endless sun that seems to wrap around him. Though his hair is cropped shorter, I can still see the tint of platinum sneaking through his thick threads. He looks so much the same it steals my breath.
“Trouble?” he drawls, “Oh, I think, I should be asking you since it just walked into my garage.” He studies me a beat, then two. And then I see his decision.
He’s striding toward me all swagger before he whisks me into his arms and whirls me around like not a single day has passed. Cedar and sunshine, and Sean. The smell is distinctly his. It has my emotions warring as I inhale as deep as I can before he lets me back on my feet. Deep creases line the corners of his eyes as his smile lights up, filling me to the point a fast tear forms and falls.