Beautiful Beast - Page 93

More crashing sounds come through the line, as if he’s demolishing everything in his vicinity.

“You said you want the freedom to make your decision, vespetta. I simply granted that to you. So choose,” he growls. “My plane is still at the same airfield where it landed. Waiting for you. You have until seven tomorrow night to make your decision. If you’re not on board by then, it will depart without you. And I’ll take that as your answer.”

He cuts the call.

My vision blurs with unshed tears. I throw the phone on the bed and rush into the bathroom so I don’t wake Yulia. Sitting on the closed toilet lid, I press my hand over my mouth to keep the whimpers from escaping. God! I thought all that damn jewelry he’s been showering me with was nothing more than his way of flashing his wealth. A tactic to show off how much “better” he is than everyone else. It never occurred to me that he actually viewed himself as somehow lacking. As if he wasn’t good enough. How could I have been so blind and didn’t realize that?

I swallow the bile that’s threatening to choke me, and give in to the ugly tears. They burn like acid down my cheeks while my heart feels like it’s being squeezed inside my chest.

He loves me.

He wants me.

Why did I not see his pain?

I never saw him as anything other than drop-dead gorgeous. That’s my only justification for being so oblivious to his insecurities. And he hung up on me before I got the chance to tell him that. To tell him that I’m in love with him, too.

And that I am coming back.

“Vasya?” My mom’s voice drifts in from inside my bedroom. “Where are you? I thought you—” Her words get cut off as soon as she opens the bathroom door. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I wipe my nose on my sleeve, then smile. “I’m returning to Sicily.”

My mother goes eerily still. “What?”

“I’m in love with him, Mom. I’m in love with Rafael.”

Mom rushes to me and crouches by the toilet, wrapping her arms around me. “Hush. You’re just confused, baby. It’ll pass.”

“I’m not confused, Mom. This is the first time in months I’m thinking clearly.” I squeeze her arm. “I’m going back to him.”

She rears back and grabs my shoulders. “What? No. I won’t allow it.”

“I don’t need your permission, Mom.” I wipe the tears off my cheeks, then meet my mother’s frantic gaze. “You of all people should understand that when your heart chooses someone, there’s no coming back from that.”

“You can’t fall in love with someone in two months, Vasilisa!”

“Oh? How long did it take you to fall in love with Dad?”

“That was different.”

“Yeah. He blackmailed you into marrying him! Twice, I might add.” I snort. “He says you fell for him within a day.”

“Absolutely not! It took me at least a month.”

A laugh rumbles out of me. “There you go.”

My mother’s face falls, concern written all over it. “Are you sure you have feelings for that man?”

“Yes.”

“How old is he?”

“Thirty-nine. What does that have to do with how I feel?”

“I’m just saying. He’s much older. Experienced. I understand how someone like him can make a young woman fall for him. It’s just an infatuation, and it will pass.”

I take her hand and press her palm to the middle of my chest. “There is a hole inside me, right here. It formed the moment I woke up on that plane and realized Rafael wasn’t there with me. Just thinking about the possibility of never being with him again makes that hole spread. I feel empty without him. I came back. But my heart remained in Sicily. With him. And no one can live without their heart, Mom.”