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ChapterTwenty-Four
THEO
I stare at her.
My heart, that has been dead for so long, skips a beat.
My hands itch to touch her, just to make sure she’s real.
It’s finally happening. After all this time apart, my piccola is giving me a chance to talk. To tell her everything. I don’t deserve her or this opportunity. I know I don’t. But it won’t stop me from taking her anyway. This is the most important conversation of my life, and I need to make sure she understands everything. Make it count.
She looks up at me with her big grey eyes. They look glassy, soft, calmer than when she first arrived.
“I never blamed you for what happened, Theo. And don’t ever think what Melody did to you was your fault because it wasn’t. I would have stayed with you forever if I could have. You understand why I left, don’t you?” Her breath hitches and the emotion in her voice makes my chest tighten.
I mull over her words. I do understand why she left. I don’t like it. But I understand it.
“The baby wasn’t mine,” I blurt, getting straight to the point.
She gasps. “Wh-what?”
Sighing, I lean back on the couch and squeeze my eyes closed as I recall all that happened. “After you left, I was a mess. I didn’t ask questions because everything Melody showed me looked legit. Scans. Doctors’ notes. Etc. I never went to any appointments with her because she didn’t want me to and because it was something intimate you do with the woman you love. I would be a father to my baby, but I didn’t want anything to do with Mel in any capacity. I went along with everything she said because I was grieving for you. I was out of my mind.”
“How do you know the baby isn’t yours?” My eyes snap open when she cuts me off.
I smile. “Well, apart from the fact he arrived two months early, he looked nothing like me. I was so scared, piccola, scared my baby wouldn’t survive. Scared it was karma for everything I had done. But then the doctors said he was healthy, and I got a good look at him. He looked nothing like me with his blonde hair and that had me questioning things. When Mel went to sleep, I spoke with the doctors, and I got the answers I needed. He isn’t mine. She slept with someone when she went back to London before Christmas. She admitted it all when I confronted her.” I swallow to wet my dry mouth. “Nothing happened the night of the awards like she led me to believe. Which was why she was confident if I had chosen to go to the police. She didn’t touch me.”
Thalia stares at me in what can only be described as shock. “But why?”
I shrug nonchalantly even though Mel’s actions ruined me and my piccola. “She was desperate to keep me. I don’t know why. I’m not anyone special but in her own twisted mind she thought she loved me. And would have done anything to keep me. Even letting me believe she assaulted me...” I trail off at how fucked up this all is.
“That’s messed up,” she murmurs, her little nose scrunching. I want to drag her into my arms and kiss that nose, kiss every part of her.
“I know, but it’s done now. Over with. I can’t change it. I can only move forward with my life. Which brings me to my next topic.” I pin her with my eyes, pleading with her to at least consider what I am about to say. “I know you have moved on, but I haven’t. I haven’t even looked at another woman since you left, never even thought about being with anyone else. You may think youlovethe prince,” I spit the words. “But you don’t. I know what we had, piccola, what westillhaveand it’s a once in a lifetime love that we will not find with anyone else no matter how hard we search. Nothing and no one will stop me from getting you back. You can put an ocean, a whole planet between us, and I will still find you.” I take a breath, my heart pounding in my chest. Thalia stares at me, her lips parted and tears in her eyes. “I know I don’t deserve you. I know things are messed up. But I am asking you as a man desperately, irrevocably, unconditionally in love with you, a man that will only ever love you, the woman who stole my heart from the moment I saw you, to pick me. Choose me, piccola. I can be the man you deserve, the man you love again. He will never fulfill you like I can. Never love you a fraction of the amount that I love you. Never make you happy like I know I can. There is no one else for me but you. You are my endgame. I can only hope that I am yours.”
Tears spill down her cheeks. I reach forward to thumb them away, but she startles, pulling back. I frown. That wasn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for. She jerks off the couch, rushing towards the door. I am up and after her in a second, gripping her arm and pulling her to stop.
“What are you doing?” I ask in confusion.
“I can’t do this right now, Theo,” she cries.
“Did you not hear what I said?” I press urgently.
She faces the door, not looking at me. “I heard. It’s a lot to take in. I need time. I was doing well without you, Theo. Not great, not ecstatically happy but I was finally in a place where I didn’t feel pain in my heart every minute of every day. Then you come back in my life and turn it upside down. What I thought was the truth, isn’t. It’s a lot to take in.” She sucks in a breath. “I’m scared, Theo. Really scared. I don’t want to get hurt again,” her voice wobbles, killing me. She’s vulnerable as she explains her worries. But she doesn’t have to be. I get she doesn’t want to get hurt again, but I will never do that to her if she gives me another chance.
“I thought you loved me?” I whisper, panic gripping every part of me. Did I underestimate her feelings for the prince and overestimate her feelings for me?
Her body tenses, making my heart pound. “I do love you. More than anything. But you don’t understand what I went through, amstillgoing through, when everything went to shit with us. It hasn’t been easy for me, Theo. Like I’m sure it hasn’t been easy for you. I love you. But I need time to figure some things out.”
I relax. I can give her time. This has been a long time coming and if she wants a few more weeks to get her head around things, then I can do that.
“Okay. But please consider everything I have said. I know it’s a lot and you have...himbut I can’t be without you, piccola. You are it for me. We deserve the life we planned. I will do anything and everything it takes to have you again. We belong together. All that shit that happened, we had to go through it to prove how strong we both are. How real our love is. A love worth having is never easy. And I can guarantee if you give me a chance, it won’t be easy, it might be a bumpy ride at times, but I can tell you it will be so damn worth it.”
Her gray eyes search my face before she lets out a breath. “I better go,” she says, her voice a whisper. I can’t say it doesn’t hurt that she’s all but dismissing me. But I do understand it’s a lot for her to hear in a short period of time. She must be overwhelmed. I need to respect that.
It angers me that she’s more than likely going back to her apartment and will be comforted by that fucker, Francois. As quick as the thought enters my mind, I let it go, otherwise I will kidnap her and tie her to my bed. And that certainly won’t do me any favors.
“Okay,” I accept. “Please think about what I said.” My voice is weak, dejected. I won’t give up though. No way.
