Adalyn pulled the ring out of her pocket, giving it one last squeeze before heading toward to the frustrated beauty who seemed to be at the end of her rope.
“I think this is yours.”
She stared down at the ring; tears began to brim the blonde’s eyes as she took it, clenching it in a tight fist. “Where did you get this?”
Adalyn tried to open her mouth, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t find it within herself to get the words out.
Tears started to fall onto Bella’s high cheekbones. “It’s my father’s ring …”
That right there was exactly why Angel had tried so damn hard to get it for her, and now she finally understood everything.
If Lucca had been the one with the ring, the chances of her father being dead were certain. The ring, which was the last piece she had to remember Angel, was now Bella’s last piece to remember her father.
Life was funny that way, or twisted and fucked up, depending on how you looked at it.
Bella wiped at the tears. “Please tell me where you found it. I have to know.”
Looking at the beautiful woman for one more second, she wondered if she knew she had her very own guardian angel. An angel she would have killed to have.
“I’m sorry. I can’t.” Adalyn backed up before running straight for the door and to the car. She was strong, but she wasn’t strong enough to keep looking at the girl who had stolen Angel’s heart long before she had even had a chance in hell.
With each mile Lake drove in silence, Adalyn felt her heart lighten more and more. The first four stages of goodbye were over, and the last had finally washed over her.
Acceptance. It was a ten-letter word that stood in front of you before you were finally … set free.
As she looked over at her friend, for the first time in a while, a smile appeared on her lips. “Can we make one last stop?”
“Of course.” Lake smiled back. “Where do you want to go?”
Smiling even wider, she could practically taste the nuggets already. “McDonalds.”
The door was flung open as he approached.
“Angel!”
Catching Bella when she jumped into his arms, he wrapped them around her, lifting her off the ground and holding her to him. For a split-second, he forgot everything as he smelled her blonde curls and the sweet vanilla scent that clung to them. He held her a little longer. It only ever lasted for just a moment …
… “Angel!” Bella gave him a big hug when he walked into school.
Wrapping his scrawny arms around her, he smiled, knowing that, even at eight years old, this moment right here was what would make living through his father’s hell worth it for the years to come.
“I missed you so much,” she whispered to him.
The horror he had spent in the closet seemed to all slip away. “I missed you, t—”
“Matthias …?” The little, curly blonde girl let him go, slowly walking up to the identical brother with sadness marking her face. “Are you okay?”
Matthias blankly stared, seeming to look straight past her. His dark gray eyes were traumatized, and if you looked close enough, you could see the horrors he held in them.
With water glistening her young eyes, Bella raised a hand, reaching out for the brother she would always reach out to for years to come. “Matthias?” …
…Holding out for a second longer, he felt Bella’s gaze go over his shoulder and sensed the disappointment that her gentle nature couldn’t hide.
See? Only ever lasted for just a moment.
Placing her back on the ground, he took a deep breath and let her go. “It’s just me. Mathias couldn’t get away.”
Her smile slightly faltered. “Oh …”
He hadn’t seen her in what seemed like forever, being trapped in that casino hotel room. Miserable from not being able to see her, he had asked Matthias to switch places with him again for just a few hours. Coming back to her now seemed different.
Reaching up, he smoothed his tattooed knuckles down her cheekbone like he usually did when he saw the sadness appear on her face. Every time he did, without fail, he wished it could soothe her the way it did when Matthias did it, wished he could soothe her the way Matthias did when she saw him. Never had he been able to achieve his goal, and not until this moment did he realize it was never going to be achieved.
Bella was and always would be in love with Matthias, regardless that he had shown her little interest. No matter how identical they were on the outside, they didn’t share the same soul, and Matthias was who her soul called to.
Only made beautiful by those two souls and those two souls alone … He remembered the words he had said to Adalyn the last time he had seen her, making him realize that he was just as blind. Angel hadn’t taken his own advice.