Page 63 of Written with Love

“It was very hard living in her shadow, you know,” she said softly. “Everywhere I went, everyone I met instantly compared me to her.”

He wondered how someone like her could do the things she’d done.

“You have two sisters.” She changed her tone and, somehow, the way she was holding herself.

“I do.” He felt his heart stop. Had she hurt them? Was she planning on doing so?

“I met Faye. I wanted to see what they were like. She was nice.” She sighed. “She helped me. I’m sorry she’s deaf.”

“Th-thanks.” He frowned.

“Your other sister…”

“Ally,” he supplied.

She nodded her head. “Your niece is cute. I watched them play in the park. She looks sad most of the time but happy when she looks at her daughter. I didn’t hurt them, or your mother.”

“Th-thanks,” he said again. He wanted to ask her what she planned to do with him, but the words wouldn’t come out.

She was quiet for a moment and then, to his surprise, she glanced around the room. “This place is pretty cool. I thought…” She stopped for a moment before continuing. “I thought I could sneak in, kill you, find the diamond, and maybe start a new life with the money. You know, maybe head somewhere tropical. Where no one recognizes me because I have my sister’s face. But then I saw this place and… it’s not all fancy like Gabriella liked. It’s… raw. Classic.” Her eyes returned to his. “I remembered how much she hurt me when you broke things off with her. She locked me up after she flew into a rage when the first articles surfaced that she had broken things off and… now I know the truth. I’m sorry I hit you.”

“Thanks,” he said, feeling his toes and fingers go numb. “Why come back here?”

She shrugged. “I have nowhere else to go.”

He waited. She was in charge here. Whatever happened next, it was all her move.

“Did you love her?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No, she used me,” he admitted, knowing that she needed and deserved the truth.

“She used everyone.” She paused and took a step towards the windows. The light from the lighthouse circled outside the windows every now and then, lighting up the dark ocean beyond. “Do you love the woman you are with now?”

“With everything I am,” he answered quickly.

Just then, he heard the front door open and wanted to scream out to warn Juliette not to come in.

“I won’t hurt you,” Giovanna said, turning back towards him, no doubt because she too heard the front door. “I won’t hurt either of you,” she said as Juliette came around the corner and gasped at the scene. “I’m sorry,” Giovanna said to Juliette. “I had nowhere else to go. I have no one left.” She lifted the gun towards her own head.

Juliette screamed as he rushed towards the girl, but he was too late.

The glass behind her head shattered, sending broken shards raining over them. He caught her body right before it hit the ground.

With shaky fingers, he felt for a pulse.

“She’s still breathing,” he called out. “Call⁠—”

“I’ve already called,” Juliette said, rushing to his side. “Is that…” she asked, but then turned away and gave the dispatcher their information. He held his shirt to the large hole on the girl’s cheek.

“Don’t die,” he told her over and over. “Please.”

“I just don’t want to be in pain any longer,” she gasped as blood oozed out of her mouth. “Please, just let me go. I want to be with them. With my family.”

He didn’t know what to say, so he just held onto her, trying to stop the bleeding, until lifesaving hands replaced his, and she was taken away.

Then he sat on the floor, holding his blood-soaked shirt. Juliette helped him stand and walked him into the bathroom to change and clean up.

He was a zombie. He’d do whatever she asked of him at the moment. His brain had just… shut down.

Questions were asked and answered. He heard himself explaining everything as if watching the scene from above. He vaguely heard someone mention the padlock being broken on the outside basement door. That was how Giovanna had gotten in the house without tripping the alarm.

Someone set a glass of the Irish whiskey he’d bought the last time he’d been in Dublin in front of him, and he’d sipped it until everything felt… numb.

Hours later, after Juliette had walked everyone to the front door, he followed her up into the bedroom and let her strip him down. He crawled into bed when she asked it of him.

As he held onto her, his mind finally felt centered.

“I mean it this time,” he said into her hair. “Marry me. I don’t want to live this life alone. You’re the one I dream about every single night, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She shifted and looked up at him as the full moonlight shone into the room through the French doors. Tears rolled down her cheeks. He used his thumb to wipe them clear.

“Yes, Max. With all of my heart, I’ve known from the first time you asked me that I was going to marry you someday.” She smiled. “After all, it’s not often a woman gets asked four times by the same man.”

He smiled for the first time in hours and then kissed her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She sighed.