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“Please tell me you didn’t do it. You didn’t marry Julietta and then kill her?” It’s past four a.m. and we’re both still wide awake.
“I’d know if you’d been married… it would’ve shown up on Google.”
I smile wryly. “Would you? Ralph Smith did get married.”
She gasp, “to Diana Palermo I hope!”
“I wish he had married Diana Palermo… but Ralph Smith was a fool. A fool for love. I’ll never make that mistake ever again.”
“Oh no. This story doesn’t have a happy ending.” She deflates.
“Nothing in life ends happily. You of all people should know that.”
“I refuse to give up believing. Besides, Romina Fiorelli is the love of your life. There’s still time to get the girl. The end of the story isn’t written.”
“... more like a to be continued…”
“So? You married that troll, Juliette?”
“I did.”
“Did Blue cut your balls off?”
“Worse. She cut out my heart.”
Chloe fights a yawn and snuggles deeper into the couch. “We need to find her. Like yesterday.”
“We?” I arch a brow.
“Yep. I’m totally team Roque.”
“Not Romina?”
“I haven’t decided yet. She should have told you who she was. She set a few dominoes in motion herself.”
“I’ve never blamed her. She was young. A teen. I blame myself for being so overcome by the electric current between us to see what was right before my eyes. How could I have been so blind? Not noticed beneath all her layers of careful camouflage was the one girl who was always my destiny?”
“I think you’re both acting like total retards. You love her she loves you… it’s not that complicated.”
“But it is. Love makes everything complicated. Besides, Romina doesn’t love me. Perhaps Blue, did. But that love died before it could even fully blossom.”
“I don’t love her anymore. I only want to destroy and vanquish whatever burns between us for good.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. “Do you even believe your own bullshit? No man, would stay up all night reliving his old love story unless the story is still alive for him.”
Now I roll my eyes. “Why are girls so hopelessly romantic? If I wasn’t so weak none of this would have ever happened.”
“You’re right. It would have been a great tragedy instead of the greatest love story. Fifteen-year-old you would’ve murdered his soulmate and walked the earth dead inside. Romina is the fire that wakes you up inside.”
“Not her, Blue.” I shake my head. “I loved a girl who never existed. I loved the girl Romina dressed up as using a disguise. How can I ever know if it was all an act or… if it was real at all?”
“Don’t you have all her diaries? Dumbass? She spells it all out for you literally?”
I stalk forward. “Did you just call me a dumbass?” I hiss in my deadliest, I’m going to break you no bullshit voice.
She yawns shaking her head. “Keep going. What happens next?”