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“If you agree, I want it written on paper with your signature.”
He cocked his head to the side, eyeing me up and down. “Quite the businessman you are. I don’t normally negotiate with anyone, but in this case, I’ll oblige.” With that, he wrote out our agreement and then signed it before handing it over to me. “I can assume you know your way to the front door?”
I nodded, suddenly feeling sick to my fucking stomach. I needed to get the hell out of there. I could feel my temper taking over, and I knew I had to leave before it did.
On my way out of the office, my grandfather expressed, “I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying to save you.”
Staring back at him, I uttered, “Belle already saved me from myself.” I turned and left.
My feet moved on their own as I walked out of their home. For some reason, I peered up at her window, surprised to find her there.
My heart dropped, shattering to the ground below me. My whole world seemed to come crashing down in a matter of seconds. Everything I thought I had under control, everything I wanted to believe, all of it…
Gone.
She was sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, hiding her face. Her gown consumed her, reminding me of a beautiful portrait. It was a memory I’d take to my grave. What happened tonight would be my own personal hell. I would now close my eyes and forever see her falling apart in front of me.
Because of me.
I found it hard to breathe.
Hard to move.
My feet were cemented to the ground as she continued to cry. I accepted it all, and each tear that fell from her face became pieces of me. Coursing through my veins, it flowed endlessly.
A river of her sadness and sorrow and all of my broken promises flooded the hole in my heart where she used to be.
They say you have that one moment in your life that could change the course the direction you could have taken. That one moment that could forever alter your future and everything you wanted to believe in.
I’d forever remember this moment for the rest of my life.
I should have apologized.
I should have begged for her forgiveness.
I should have stayed.
But I didn’t.
I spun around and walked away from the love of my life.
Fully aware, I just made her life better…
By leaving her behind.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
—Belle—
Now
“Tristian…” I wept with tears falling down my face. “That’s why you left?”
He nodded.
“I don’t even know what to say. I can’t believe our grandfathers. How could they do this to us?”
“I imagine they think they’re making it up to us now.”
