“No!”
Her cry was of pure terror, and the people around them turned to stare.
The whispers started.
But he didn’t give a damn about any of it.
All he cared about was her, and the moment she broke into a run, he didn’t even hesitate.
He ran after her. “Lane!”
She ran even faster, pushing her way through the exiting crowd of lawyers, her small frame enabling her to slip and wriggle herself to the front.
But still, he was faster and stronger, and with Angelo not hesitating to shove people out of his way, he reached her just as she was about to step out of the hotel building—
His fingers wrapped around her wrist, and she let out a keening cry.
He forced her to face him, whispering achingly, “Lane, please, it’s me—”
She started to cry. “L-Let m-me g-go.” The fight had gone out of her, and she was staring at him like an irreparably broken doll in the hands of its master.
No.
He looked at her—
“P-please. P-please. P-please.”
Her pain broke him.
It shattered his fears, shed light to his darkness, and stopped him from being so goddamn blind.
Angelo whitened. “Dio.”
And it was that moment he realized that he would never have the power to hurt her this much, would never have had the power to inflict the kind of pain that went beyond what he felt when Jaike chose another man over him—
She wouldn’t be hurting this much—
If she didn’t love him just as much.
The knowledge devastated him, and he let her go.
She spun around and ran away.
Dio.
He loved her. All he wanted to do was love her and make her happy, so why did he fail to realize that making her happy was allowing her to love him?
No matter what the world thought of them.
A second later, and he was chasing after her, heart thundering against his chest as he fought and prayed for another chance.
One last chance, God.
Let me burn in Hell for all my sins, but don’t let her suffer because of me.
Give me a chance to love her in this lifetime.
Just one last chance.
If she would have me.
He reached her just as she slammed the car door shut, and when the car started to move, Angelo didn’t hesitate, sprinting to block its way with his own body.
The car screeched to a stop.
As soon as the driver stepped out, shouting at him, Angelo tore around its side and opened the passenger door.
She shrank away at the sight of him, mute and wide-eyed in her terror.
He ached to hold her, ached to beg for her forgiveness, but he knew just by looking at her that he would not be able to reach her that way.
He said hoarsely, “Please come with me.”
She shook her head wildly.
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he said bleakly. “I thought that if I really loved you, I should let you go and find someone normal.”
But she only stared at him, and it was like seeing himself in her eyes, the way he had been so goddamn unreachable to her that night.
He remembered the way she begged him, remembered how she had whispered the words that made his heart shrivel—
I’m proud of the way we love each other. C-can’t you be proud of it, too?
“Tesoro,” he choked out.
She was crying again. “S-stop. S-stop. S-stop.”
“I’m proud—”
She started screaming as if his words were killing her.
“I’m proud of the way I love you—”
“S-STOP!”
“And if y-you could love me again—”
She covered her ears. “B-begging y-you, p-please s-stop.”
Ah.
Dio.
She was so damn close to completely breaking down, and they had so little time before her family found out what was happening. They were so damn overprotective, he was pretty sure they’d send the cops after him.
An idea came to him, his last shot at redemption, and he knew, if after that, she would still be afraid of him—
One last chance, God.
It’s all I ask.
He looked at Lane. “Mi dispiace, tesoro—” He swallowed at the way she flinched at the term of endearment. He sucked his breath and said roughly, “I’m sorry, Lane. But I have to do this.”
He hauled her to him.
She screamed, and the look on her face almost made him change his mind.
But he forced himself to ignore it, telling himself that they both deserved this one last chance.
He knew he had fucked up, but he also knew that their lives would only get more fucked up if they were apart.
One last chance, God.
He got her out of the car using brute strength and started dragging her with him even as the sound of her anguished sobs threatened to drive him to his knees.
It took ten damn minutes to find what he was looking for, and he knew he had so little time left.
He shoved the door to the salon open and forced Lane inside. The place was empty except for the gaping stylist, and Angelo warned him, “Don’t interfere.”