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He said he would, and I chose to believe him.

At this time, what other choice did I have anyway?

But if I could write a plan to become someone else, I could also write a plan to find me again, right?

Somewhere amid all the layers I created, the real me was still there, alive and breathing, right?

Right?

CHAPTER 14

LAN

Guilt was eating every part of me alive.

I hated seeing her cry.

But what I hated more was being thereasonthat made her cry.

Even after months of being apart, she still didn’t get it.

She didn’t getme.

And for the first time in my life, she made me question the decision of loving her.

If maybe—if maybe I hadn’t come into her life, would my Katy have been herself? Instead of suffering in silent agony and despising herself and thinking she wasn’t worth my effort.

Would she have just been herself if I hadn’t come and ruined it?

I broke up with her to set her free from me but I hoped and wished she would fly freely and always fly back home to me.

But instead, she made me feel like a useless part of her life.

If she only needed me to appease the lies she created, to just be a false purpose to get her going, then what good was I being the love of her fucking life.

I shook my head, snapping out of my thoughts as the sounds of the city swept passed me in a blur. It felt exhilarating to be among this crowd and not have one person recognize me.

I did get a few glances, and it was probably more for the mysterious guy casually leaning over a Ducati Superleggera 998cc with his biker mask on. I would’ve much preferred my shiny new V4 monster, but I needed to blend in.

My back perked up in attention when my beautiful angel appeared on the sidewalk like I knew she would every evening to go to the corner diner to get herself a chocolate milkshake.

If I were to read her mind, she would say it was good, but nothing could ever come close to her beloved Louie’s milkshake.

I left my parked bike on the curb and followed her, maintaining a good distance between us.

She was oblivious to my presence, I knew because I’d been following her like a stalker stalking out his next victim for the past one hundred and eighty-nine days.

I didn’t correct others when they thought I was on my bike, riding across state lines with my hair flying in the wind.

Instead, I shadowed her everywhere, hoping she would wake the fuck up. But she was still stuck on whatever cloud she was in, rotting in the same cycle over and over again.

I was glad she was eating again, though. I never realized Katy had stopped enjoying food because of those poisonous reasons. If I had known, I would’ve fed her a few extra plates every single day and showered her in chocolates.

But that thought took me right back to last night when I made her cry. We’d flown back to New York early this morning, and Katy blatantly lied to our friends and her twin that she was going back to LA, only she never went back to that city unless it was for her job. She’d been here in NYC the whole time, living in a penthouse suite of the Four Seasons like it was her new home. And I lived in the building right opposite to her room, the exact opposite in fact so I could watch her all day like a sappy fool.

I just had to make a phone call for that to happen, thanks to my last name.

A small smile curved my lips when her red lips closed over the straw and drew in her first sip. It was always my favorite part of the day. It was only when some of the light returned to her eyes and a smile spread across her lips.