Page 37 of Jetmir

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“I couldn’t let you leave,” he rasped. “Not without telling you that I miss you. I know I screwed up, but not a day has gone by where my heart hasn’t ached for yours. Not a minute passed without you on my mind.”

I shook my head.

“Thorne…” I winced. In my mind he was always Thorne, but the fact was he lied about that too. Or rather, he omitted. Still a clear deception in my opinion. “Jetmir, don’t. Please. I can’t do this. Not now. Not ever again.”

His jaw clenched.

“Why?”

“Because our families have finally found even ground after what happened.”

A bitter laugh escaped him.

“Our love is none of their business. Our lives belong to us and us alone.”

I swallowed. “It wasn’t love. It was lust. Nothing more.”

His eyes flashed angrily.

“You can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me.”

I stepped back, a bitter laugh bubbling in my chest. “Really? Maybe I learned from the best and got really good at it.”

His entire body stiffened.

“It’s been three years, angel. How can I prove to you that I’m sorry?”

“You can give Gabriel his vision back!” I snapped, my voice cracking on the last few words. “You can take back all the lies you told me to get me into your bed. Or all the sneaky bullshit you did to get me to marry you.” I put my hand on my temple, suddenly feeling a headache come on. “You don’t get to stand there after all this time and pretend everything is the same.”

Raindrops continued to come down, soaking his dark strands. God, it reminded me of that last time we stood in the rain. Different, happier feeling. Different, happier me, although much more naive me.

I jerked away from my ex-husband and the memory as if burned.

“I never said it was, but what we had is too precious and too rare to throw it away.”

I used to think so too, but then the truth came crashing down.

“Fuck what we had. Fuck what we shared. Fuck your feelings and your lies. Fuck. You!”

The words exploded before I could stop them. My breathing shook and I desperately tried to get myself together. I didn’t like this side of myself. I missed the girl I was. The girl he’d killed with his actions.

He took a step forward, his head blocking raindrops from falling on my face. “You still don’t get it, Anya. I’d kill for you.” His forehead pressed against mine. “I’d die for you. But one thing I’ll never do is give you up.”

A shuddering breath left my lips while my ears rang with his words. My chest physically hurt so bad that I feared it would tear in half. I brought my hand to my chest and kept it there, hoping to ease the pain.

I took a step back, looked him straight in the eye while rain fell all around us. It was as if the sky itself was crying for our lost love.

“You’re my past, Jetmir,” I breathed.

His shoulders sagged.

“I deserve that.” I blinked because Jetmir Volkov never admitted fault. “I deserve every ounce of your anger.” His voice had become frighteningly cold and he took a step closer, his familiar cologne wrapping me in a cloud. “But I won’t give you up, my angel.”

“Yes, you will.” My voice was barely audible. “Because I’ve given you up.”

“Don’t.”