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“You’ve hurt me worse than Cannon ever could,” she spat at me. “Now, let me go.”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“You don’t have a choice. I’m no longer yours to touch whenever you want. You’ll never kiss me again. Never hold me. Never lie beside me in bed. Never hear me say how much I love you.” She might as well have stabbed me in the heart with each word out of that beautiful mouth. “For the rest of your life, you’ll never have me, Luca.”
“Luca, let her go!” Lyric’s voice boomed closer, but still, I couldn’t release her.
“Baby, you’re killing me. You’re giving me a life sentence of nothing but pain and desolation. Have mercy on me, Violet. I only need one more chance. Please.”
She stood there with tears still flowing down her pale face, but her eyes were devoid of all emotion. “Goodbye, Luca,” she said softly.
“No!” I bellowed and jumped to my feet while my hands still grasped tightly to her tiny waist. “Please. I’m so fucking sorry. I’ll never hurt you again, Vi. I—”
Lyric tackled me, sending both him and me into the water. The waves crashed over us just as he punched me in the face, knocking my head back against the sand. Sputtering, we both rushed to get up, but another wave tried to pull us deeper into the ocean.
My brother was finally able to stand, and he offered me his hand. As I got to my feet, I looked and saw Violet was already almost back to her house. Shaw stood on the veranda, waiting while several of the parents stood at the French doors, watching with their mouths hanging open.
“Violet!” I shouted her name, but she didn’t even hesitate to take the next step. “Violet, please!”
Lyric grabbed the back of my shirt when I started after her and jerked me around to face him. “Let her go, brother. It’s over.”
“No.” I was gasping for breath now, unable to draw in enough oxygen. “No, it can’t be over. I love her. I’ll do better. I’ll—”
“It’s too late. You fucked up too bad this time.” He slapped me on the back and then clenched his fingers on my shoulder. “Let’s just go home. Or to the airport.”
“No, I have to do something. Anything. This can’t be the end.” I thrust my fingers into my dripping hair. Looking at Lyric, I pleaded. “Tell me what to do to get her back. Please, Ric. Help me get my life back. If I lose her—”
“If?” he barked, not even an ounce of sympathy in his brown eyes. “If you lose her, dumbass? No, bro. You have already lost. Get that through your head. You cheated on the most amazing girl in the universe. A girl who would have happily given you every part of herself and never asked for anything in return the entire time. You had everything at your fingertips. All you had to do was cherish her. Treat her like she deserves, and she would have always been happy. But you broke her instead. You destroyed one of the most beautiful creatures in the world. You. No one else. And now you have to accept that.”
“I can’t,” I rasped.
“Too fucking bad. Because she no longer wants you.” He grabbed my arm and started pulling me toward the house, but when we got to the path that split toward the house or around to the driveway, he guided me toward the latter.
“No,” I groaned. “I can’t.”
Jerking away from him, I ran to the French doors and pushed my way into the house. But inside, all hell had broken loose. I heard someone crying and vaguely realized it was my mom. The living room was overflowing with family, but it only took me a few seconds to realize there were people missing. Lucy was rushing Hayat and Evan out of the room behind Mia, who was carrying Emerson. Braxton picked up Nevaeh and carried her out when she seemed to be refusing to go anywhere.
Aunt Natalie and Aunt Lana were trying to herd the younger kids out of the room, but they seemed entranced by the scene unfolding before them. Uncle Shane and Dad were yelling at each other, with Barrick, Harris, and Uncle Devlin trying to hold Uncle Shane back, while Uncle Drake, Uncle Axton, and Uncle Nik kept Dad back.
“You knew about this and didn’t tell me?” Violet’s dad roared. “You knew my little girl was going to have to go through this, and you didn’t warn me? How could you do that to her?”
“Shane…” Aunt Emmie tried to reason, while Cole Steel and Eddie Jameson attempted to put themselves between her and Uncle Shane. “She didn’t want you to know yet.”
“All because she was trying to protect that little shit!” he yelled at her.
I barely took in the scene because I was trying to find Violet in the chaos. With everyone rushing around, it took me a little longer to realize Aunt Harper wasn’t there. Neither were Aunt Dallas or Shaw. But more importantly, Violet was missing.
I was still soaking wet. Water dripped from my clothes, and my shoes soaked into the carpet as I ran through the house and up to Violet’s room. Her door was closed and locked, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.
Slamming my shoulder into the door, I broke it open, causing it to splinter and hang off its hinges, while everyone on the other side screamed except for Violet.
“For fuck’s sake!” Aunt Dallas shouted, while she and Aunt Harper put themselves between Violet and me. “Luca, you need to go. You’re only going to cause yourself more problems.”
“Vi,” I choked out her name and tried to get to her. “Baby, please.”
Her wide eyes went from me to her splintered door. “Are you insane?”
Running footsteps sounded on the stairs. “Harper?” Uncle Shane called out just as he, Barrick, and Harris stopped outside the broken door.
