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“Then who is she?”
“Get out.”
“No.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “You keep pushing me away. You have all these secrets.” I gestured toward the wall. “You say you want to marry me, but don’t explain why.” When he opened his mouth, I put up my hand. “No. You can’t keep confusing me with your sexy words. I know you don’t love me. How could you? Half the time you can’t stand me. Now this? Who is she? Don’t lie.”
“First of all.” He braced his hands on his hips.
I hated when he looked all professor-y and hot. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“You’re using your professor wiles on me.”
“I’m not.” He chuckled, crossing his arms then uncrossing him. “Jesus Donata. It’s not that I can’t stand you. You just spend all your time looking for trouble. Look at you.” He pointed at my bare feet and my overall ensemble. “I left you for all of twenty minutes and look where you landed. Please.” He brought his hands up to a steeple. “Would it be possible for you to pretend? No, to forget you ever saw this room?”
“No.”
“Of course not.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Did Aurora’s death have anything to do with Ava’s?”
He winced when I said her name, and my heart dropped to my stomach. Tears pooled in my eyes as the realization washed over me. I’d seen that look so many times. Enzo had been mourning the loss of his great love for the past two years. I recognized the pain in Luca’s eyes immediately.
“You were in love with her.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Someone killed your girlfriend?”
“Fiancée.” He pursed his lips.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I never considered the idea that Luca might be in love with someone else. Why didn’t he tell me? This whole time, all the years I spent chasing after him, he was in love with someone else. He was with her. I turned to face her picture and her perfect smile. She seemed so grounded. So Normal. So perfect for him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I wiped my face. “You strung me along. All this time. You made me think you…” I stopped to consider how he had rejected me but also shown that he wasn’t indifferent. “You could’ve told me; you were in love with someone else.”
“Would that have dissuaded you from all your stalking and lying about us?”
“See?” I pointed at him. “You always talked about us like there was an us. And yes. If you had told me you were in love with someone else, that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her, I would’ve let you go.”
“You say that now.”
“No. I mean it. The night of the accident.” I pointed at the news article. “You were with me. She died when you were with me. Were you engaged then? Did you know then you wanted her? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t owe you an explanation. A ‘no’ should’ve been enough.”
I ran a hand through my hair. This was the thing with Luca. He had a way to make me feel like he wanted me, while at the same time pushing me away. I’d been so stupid to think we had something real. But the thing was, I was here now only because Ava was dead.
“Why did you start this with me?”
“Start what?”
“Don’t do that. You know what I mean—your whole seduction game. You flunked me so I would go to you. Then you gave me all those assignments. And for what? You knew I would never be able to resist you. You knew, I’d come running. Why? Why would you do that if you’re still pining over some dead girl?”
With my heart thrashing in my ears, I pushed past him and walked out of his office. I couldn’t stand looking at the only woman Luca had ever loved. How could I be so stupid? I took the stairs and just kept going. This wasn’t my home. I couldn’t even get the satisfaction of going to my room and slamming the door. So instead, I just left.
By the time I reached the corner, I was sobbing uncontrollably. It took another two blocks before I realized I was also freezing and barefoot. To top it all off, I didn’t have my phone with me. I stopped at a small dog park and plopped myself on one of the benches, so I could feel sorry for myself properly. I couldn’t go home like this. Enzo would have a million questions.
And then I would have to tell him how Luca didn’t want me after all, that he was still in love with Ava Conti. I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped my head in my hands. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking of how Luca winced when I said Ava’s name aloud. Enzo did the same every time I uttered Aurora’s name. Only a great love could do that to a person.
I lifted my head and spotted a yellow cab across the way. I hated taxis, but I had no other way to get home. I stared at it for a whole minute before I managed to put myself together and rise to my feet. The moment I started moving again, I knew I wouldn’t go back to Enzo’s. I needed to go home to Aunt Vittoria. Somehow, I knew she would know what to do, how to comfort me without telling me I was a complete idiot for letting a guy do this to me.
Aunt Vittoria hated all men. She had her reasons. It was why she never married. She believed marriage of convenience was smart business, but thought marrying for love was for fools,“and rather exhausting.”Her words made me smile. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so lost.
