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Davey’s eyes widened when he saw how much Vassi had given him. “Wow.” Seri’s stepbrother had given him a fortune, enough for him to go on vacation the entire week.
“Thank you for being so forgetful with the door.”
“No,” he breathed. “Thank you.” He paused. “But – for the record, I’m not doing this just for the money. I also truthfully think Seri needs to talk to you right now.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Davey flashed a rare, humorless smile. “Actually, I don’t think you do.”
****
Seri was still curled in a ball under the covers when she heard the door open. “Is it the pizza?”
“No.”
She froze.
D’err mo.
What was Vassi doing here? Shouldn’t he be with Daniela and busy kissing the girl’s fake eye problems away?
She stiffened when she felt the bed suddenly dip, and the tension inside her skyrocketed when she felt Vassi clutch the ends of the covers.
“Seri—-”
She tightened her hold on the covers. “If you came here out of pity, thanks but no thanks. Max’s coming over any minute and he’ll be t-the one to comfort me.”
“I see.”
She felt the bed lift as Vassi stood up.
Just like that, she thought numbly, and he was leaving.
She heard the door open and close.
Oh.
He was gone then. It was exactly what she wanted, so why did the thought hurt? Why did it hurt so much that it was like her chest was about to explode—-
She gasped. She gasped and gasped, but it was no use.
The sobs still managed to crawl out.
I love you, Vassi.
She repeated the words feverishly in her mind and drew a painful, twisted sense of comfort from it. She might no longer have the right to speak those words, but at least she could still think them.
Another sob escaped her as she remembered Vassi kissing Daniela-—
I love you, Vassi.
The covers were suddenly yanked down, and Seri found herself staring up at Vassi in shock. His face was hard, his eyes hooded. He muttered in a guttural voice, “Always too proud—-”
She flinched, remembering that those were almost the exact same words he had used to describe the other girl.
And knowing she shouldn’t even care to ask, she heard herself say hoarsely, “Are you sleeping with her now?”
His face became even more rigid. “Why does that matter? You’re with Rockford now, aren’t you?”
She asked painfully, “Are you?”
Vassi didn’t answer.
Oh God.
She found herself clumsily rising to her knees on the bed, and still he didn’t move, only looking at her with silver eyes that yielded and promised nothing.
“Did you fall in love with her while I was gone? Was it that easy?”
Silence.
“Vassi, did you—-”
“And if I did?”
Seri couldn’t stop herself trembling as his words hung in the air between them.
If he had fallen in love with Daniela—-
As the possibility crystallized in her mind, she could feel herself breaking bit by bit, and Seri realized that this was the one thing she hadn’t actually allowed herself to think.
That night Fyodor had walked in on them, all she had cared about was saving Vassi’s place in the family.
All she had thought was to prepare herself for Vassi and the other boys hating her.
But somehow, she had managed to blind herself to the possibility that hatred wasn’t the only thing that could fill Vassi’s heart.
Somehow, she had managed to not think about another girl taking her place in Vassi’s heart.
And now that she did—-
As Seri turned ashen before him, it was almost like seeing a flower slowly wither, and Vassi’s fists clenched as he fought the urge to pull her towards him.
She asked brokenly, “D-do you love her already, Vassi? Was it that easy to replace me?”
He asked bitterly, “Shouldn’t it be, after what you’ve done?”
A painful laugh slipped past her lips. “Then you do l-love her?”
“No.” His gaze clashed with hers. “But I can.”
Oh.
Seri covered her mouth.
Oh.
She tried to keep the rest of her sobs down.
Oh.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I s-see.” And she did. She did see it now, and she knew that this was inevitable, after what she had made him and Fyodor believe. She knew…just as she knew that it was something she had to accept because—-
“Seri—-”
She shook her head vehemently. She couldn’t bear to hear him out anymore. She had to at least protect just a little bit of herself, to survive.
Vassi sucked in his breath as Seri lowered her hands and slowly opened her eyes to look at him. She whispered, “If you fall in love with her—-” Her teeth sank into her lower lip, which was shaking hard. “I’ll be h-happy for you.”
Agony ripped through him as he watched Seri lower her head.
If she truly had meant those words, then why had she looked like she was slowly killing herself with each word she spoke?
His mind warned him that it could be another act. Things might no longer be working between her and Rockford, and it was the reason why she was trying to win him back again.
