“I love you too.”
Her lips remained for a few more seconds…and then she left, walking out my bedroom door.
I sucked in a breath, and my insides knotted and twisted with pain as if wrapped in barbed wire. I leaned against the wall and listened as Kate opened the front door.
“Layla?” His voice was like a dagger through my heart, and I had to place my hand in front of my mouth as sobs threatened to escape.
“I’m sorry, Dante,” Kate said.
“Where is she?”
“Dante—”
“Where the fuck is Layla, Kate?” I heard the desperation in his voice, and it sliced through every bone, piercing the marrow of my soul. I loved him. No matter the secrets he kept from me. I loved him with every breath I took. But loving him hurt too goddamn much, especially now.
I glanced at my bedside table and slowly moved forward while staring at the one thing that changed everything within the span of only a few seconds. Just like Kate when she adopted me after Mom died, my life was no longer my own. So no matter how much it pained me to leave, how hard I wished it was only his secrets that threatened our love…it wasn’t. His secrets, I could forgive…but chancing a future which was now my responsibility wasn’t something I could do.
“I’m sorry, Dante, but Layla isn’t here. She asked me to give you this.”
With my eyes closed, I imagined Dante holding the envelope in his hands. The piece of paper which would rip our lives apart…forever.
“Where is she?” Dante’s voice was hard, desperate…unforgiving.
“I can’t tell you that, Dante.”
“When did she leave?”
“I can’t tell you that, either.”
“Why the fuck not?”
Quietly, I grabbed my suitcase and stepped up to my bedroom door, listening.
“Kate, will you fucking look at me and tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“I don’t know, okay?” I could hear in her voice that she was fighting back the tears, and I prayed she would manage to keep it together just a little while longer. “All I know is she left, and she asked me to give you the goddamn envelope.”
“What else did she say? Jesus Christ, Kate!”
“She’s not coming back!”
I held my breath when Kate shouted at Dante, directing all the pain and anger at him. But he didn’t have a clue. He had no idea. And I hoped it would stay that way…forever.
Slowly, quietly, I stalked down the hall, careful not to make a sound while Kate continued to speak with Dante at the front door.
“My little sister is not coming back. Not to me. Not to you. Never. I don’t know what you did, Dante. All I know is because of you, I will never see my fucking sister again.”
The front door slammed just as I reached the back door by the kitchen. I stilled for a moment. Only a second. One heartbeat.
This was it. The last chance if I wanted to change my mind. It was now or never.
With my palm flat on my belly, I closed my eyes.
A deep breath. A final tear.
A final goodbye…and I prayed I would not regret it.
The memory squeezed the final life out of my already shattered heart. Turned out, I did regret it. I regretted it with every ounce of my being.