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“It’s okay,” she said, holding up her hand to keep them back while not taking her eyes off me.
“Holy fuck.” I heard my dad say, and I realized he was with the other three. “Luca, what the hell did you do?”
I ignored them all. “Violet, please.”
“Is that all you can say?” she demanded, walking around the others in the room. But before she could pass Shaw, her best friend pulled her behind her.
“He’s lost his mind,” Shaw told her. “Don’t get too close to him. He might hurt you.”
“Oh please,” she muttered with a roll of her eyes. “He’d never physically hurt me.”
“Honey, he’s unstable right now,” Aunt Harper tried to tell her.
Shrugging off Shaw’s hold, Violet got into my space. “Well? Is that all you can say?” she repeated. “You think telling me you love me and begging me to forgive you will make everything okay? Do you honestly imagine I have it within me t
o just overlook any of this and start over again? You broke my heart, my trust in you, my faith in your love, and my soul!”
“I’m sorry.” It was inadequate, but it was the only thing I could say.
“Yeah. You’ve said that so many times, I’ve lost count.” She tilted her head back, her eyes sparkling with a raging anger I’d never seen from her before. “I’m sorry too, actually.”
“The fuck you are,” her dad growled. “You’ve done nothing to be sorry for.”
Ignoring him, she went on as if he hadn’t even spoken. But part of me suddenly wished she wasn’t sorry when she blasted me with her hate-filled words. “I’m sorry I ever gave you my heart. I’m sorry you ever touched my soul. And I’m fucking sorry I ever loved you.”
Chapter 26
Violet
I knew the second my words made the direct hit to Luca’s heart. Pain swirled in his eyes, and the beast-like manchild before me deflated. Only seconds before, he’d been vibrating with energy, but now he seemed completely devoid of life.
For all of two seconds, I felt guilty and wanted to wrap my arms around him, tell him I was sorry and I didn’t mean it. Hurting him only hurt me.
But then I remembered Megan and everything she and Luca had stolen from me. The pain that came with those memories was crippling, and the only emotion I could feel was pure hate. I wanted him to hurt, to bleed from the inside out, to never know another moment of happiness because he had killed mine.
“I want you to know that today is the last day I ever allow you to hold on to even a small part of my heart,” I told him, surprising even myself at how cold my voice was. “Tomorrow, I won’t even allow myself to think about how much I once loved you. I won’t let myself remember how good it felt to just sit beside you and savor the love I thought you felt for me. I refuse to think ever again about the life we could have had. The life we should have had but you were too much of a juvenile little boy to deserve.”
His throat worked and he opened his mouth, but no words came forth. I watched as tears spilled out of those eyes I’d once been hypnotized by. Eyes I could have spent the rest of my life getting lost in. His shoulders began to shake, but I felt no remorse, no compassion, no sympathy for the guy I once would have gladly laid down my own life for.
“Tomorrow, I hope you wake up and you remember it all. Every day for the rest of your life, I hope you remember the way it felt to have me touch you, kiss you, tell you I love you. I hope it haunts you until you’re clawing at the last thread of your sanity.” I lifted my hand but stopped it less than an inch away from touching his jaw. I ghosted a caress over his flesh before dropping my hand to my side and clenching my fingers into a fist so tight my fingers started to go numb. “I hope you die a little more inside each and every time, until there’s nothing left.”
Everyone watching us was so quiet, I didn’t even think they were breathing. When Luca released a sob, I stepped back, unaffected by the agonized sounds coming from him.
Suddenly, Lyric was in the room, just as wet as his brother, his breathing labored as he glanced from me to Luca. With a sigh, he dropped an arm around his twin’s shoulders and pulled him in for a hug. “Let’s go, bro.”
I stood there, unmoving and unable to feel a single thing but the hate burning in my heart as Lyric urged Luca from the room. Uncle Jesse followed, and even though my hate didn’t extend to him, I was glad he was leaving with them. I wanted everyone to go, wanted them hundreds of miles away because I was about to break. I’d tried to be strong during everything, but my control was slipping and I didn’t know how much longer I had until I completely lost it.
“Sweetheart,” Mom murmured, her voice soft and trying to soothe. All it did was make me lose a little more of my much-needed control.
“Please,” I was able to get out through the lump choking me. “I really just want to be alone right now.”
“Vi,” Dad started to protest, but I looked up at him, and he must have seen how desperate I was. Muttering a curse, he stepped back. “Let’s give her some time. This has been a clusterfuck. Let’s eat and let her have a moment to breathe.”
One by one, they all left me. Mom paused to hug me, and it took everything inside me not to fall on the floor and start sobbing then and there. When everyone but Shaw was gone, I glanced at her, ready to tell her to go with them, but she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Not happening. You just found out your ex might be a daddy, Violet. I’m not leaving you.”
“You know?”
