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“You were expecting me?” I eventually murmur, confused.
“I had hoped you’d come. I asked Wint, the client, to see to it that we could get you here somehow. I believe he called in some favours with his girlfriend to get one of your new colleagues to bring you here tonight.”
Lou. The witch. She knew exactly what she was getting me into tonight! I should…probably thank her for it, in all honesty.
As we stand there, wrapped in each other’s arms, the noise of the club dims to a murmur. It’s as if we’re cocooned in our own little world, where past grievances and misunderstandings hold no power.
I lean into Lycus’s embrace, feeling a wave of relief wash over me. In Lycus’s arms, I realise that maybe forgiveness is possible. Maybe redemption is within reach.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper again. “I should have trusted you. I should have stayed and listened to your side of the story.”
Lycus pulls back slightly to look at me, his gaze soft yet intense. “It’s okay, Angelica,” he says gently. “We all make mistakes. I’m sorry too. There’s so many things I regret, but that night at ‘Wicked Temptation’ with you is not one of them. I should have told you who I was right from the very start at work. I should never have riled you up and exchanged barbs with you when all I wanted to do was reveal my identity. But I was worried you’d treat me differently if you knew I was the boss, and I loved that you were the only one who didn’t fawn and fall over me.”
He takes a deep breath before continuing with a wry smile.
“I miss your cutting barbs. I should have revealed myself that night at the club. As soon as I walked in and saw you waiting for me, I should have asked you to remove your blindfold so we could talk. But again, after wanting you for so long, I didn’t want to show you who I was and have you run away or reject me. I completely understand that what I did that night was wrong. Such a breach of the trust you placed in me, but I was absolutely powerless to do the right thing in the face of finally getting a taste of the one thing I’ve always wanted. Which is why I can’t bring myself to regret it.”
A sense of bittersweetness washes over me as I listen to Lycus’s words, feeling a mix of regret and longing. His words resonate deep within me, stirring something long buried in my heart.
“I should have found a way to get a message to you after the accident. I should have contacted you when you handed in your notice. I never should have blocked your job interviews – that was so fucking low of me, I’m sorry. I just hoped it would bring you back. I realise now that I never should have let you go either, and I don’t just mean in the workplace.”
The weight of our shared mistakes hangs heavy in the air, but there’s also a glimmer of hope flickering between us. Maybe, just maybe, we can find a way to move forward from this tangled mess we’ve created. I meet his gaze, seeing a vulnerability in his eyes that mirrors my own.
“Lycus,” I begin, my voice wavering with emotion. “I don’t know where we go from here, but I want to try to make things right. I want to start over...if you’ll let me.”
He searches my face for a long moment before a small smile plays on his lips. “I’d like that, Angelica. I’d like that very much.” His hand reaches up to gently cup my cheek, his touch warm against my skin. “But in the interest of honesty, there’s some more things I should tell you.”
As Lycus’s words hang in the air, a knot of anticipation forms in the pit of my stomach. What more could there be? What other secrets lay hidden beneath the surface of our tumultuous past? I search his eyes for any hint, any clue to what he’s about to reveal.
He takes a deep breath, his fingers tracing a pattern on my cheek.
“There’s something you need to know, Angelica,” he starts, his voice tinged with a mix of apprehension and determination. “I’ve kept this from you for far too long, and I can’t bear to hide it any longer.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I wait for him to continue, the noise of the club fading into the background as all my focus is drawn to him. Lycus takes a step back, his gaze never leaving mine, and then he speaks words that shatter everything I thought I knew.
“I’m completely in love with you,” he confesses, his expression pained. “I have been since my first day at the company when I saw you in the elevator and I have been ever since. I made it my mission to learn everything about you, all of your likes and dislikes, all of your favourite things and all of your hopes and dreams. I watched you from the day I moved in until the day you disappeared without a trace.
“I was completely obsessed with you from the start. But it was when we went to the States together that I fell head over heels for you. And I’ve been trying to keep tabs on you, to look out for you and watch over you even though I know I had no right to do that. I know you’re not happy in your new job, and I know that you secretly long to fulfil that dream you keep working away on, the one that’s hidden in your sketchbook.”
A rush of emotions floods through me at Lycus’s confession, his words hitting me with a force I never expected.Love. The word echoes in my mind, reverberating through every corner of my being.
How could he love me after everything that has transpired between us? The weight of his feelings settles on my shoulders, both a burden and a balm. Is that what I’m feeling too? Do I love Lycus?
I know I stopped hating him a long time ago, but is this love? The feeling of emptiness without him in my life, the void in me that no one else has been able to fill, the sting his betrayal tore through my heart…was it all so brutally painful because I’d fallen for him too?
My heart races as I consider the here and now. Learning that Lycus didn’t betray me, feeling…hopeful…that we can fix things between us, the crushing realisation that it might be too late, he might have moved on already, might be here with someone else.
I gasp, pain lancing through me. Does it hurt because I love him?
As I try to process his words, memories of our tumultuous past flicker in my mind like a movie reel. The fights, the misunderstandings, the heartache... And yet, amidst it all, there was something unspoken, something that lingered in the silences between us.
I reach out a trembling hand to touch his, the warmth of his skin grounding me in this moment of vulnerability and truth. He nods solemnly, his eyes locking onto mine with unwavering intensity.
“I know I should have said something sooner, but I was afraid. Afraid of losing you for good. Afraid of pushing you away even further. But I can’t keep it hidden any longer. I love you, Angelica.”
Tears well up in my eyes as his words wash over me, a tempest of emotions swirling within my chest. Love. A word that once felt like a distant dream now stands before me, raw and unfiltered. He said lovenotloved, past tense. Does that mean…is there a chance…?
“Lycus,” I finally manage to say, the weight of his confession hanging heavy in the air between us. “I don’t know what to say... I never expected...”
