Page 29 of A Sixpence For Your Shoe (Revenge Brides #6)
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Misha
C elso shoves my mother out of the room and shouts at her to get back to the boat.
I can’t leave him. I’ve made a mistake. I should never have done this.
My heart is breaking in ways I never imagined possible as I stare at him, straining to breathe with blood dripping from his lips.
Celso tries to grab my arm and pull me away, but I push him hard, leaping back onto the bed, tears streaming down my face and mixing with Vincent’s blood as I grab his face in my hands and kiss him.
“I really did love you, Vincent.” I gasp through my sobs as I un-cuff his wrists.
He whispers against my lips, his last words brushing over me like hell fire. “And I still love you - little raven. I always will.”
I see the life drift from his eyes and his body slump empty and soulless beneath me.
Agony screams from my lips, and I don’t even register when Celso lifts me and carries me out of the room. I’m still screaming, the deepest heartache I’ve ever known, when he pushes me onto the speedboat.
My mother grabs me into her arms and holds me against her chest.
“I want to go back.” I cry out. “I’ve changed my mind.” I scream.
“It’s too late, sweetheart.” She is crying too, rocking back and forth as Celso maneuvers the smaller boat away from the yacht.
We aren’t quite far enough away from it when it explodes. The shockwave that hits us knocks me overboard and my body slams into the cold ocean water, slapping me awake, forcing me into reality.
I grab for the surface and gasp for air as soon as my face breaks through it. My heavy wedding dress pulling me down, drowning me and I think to myself - I deserve this. I’ve killed the only man I ever loved.
“Misha,” Celso is shouting my name.
“I’m here.” I gasp, trying to kick away from the dress, letting it slip off my body and sink into the dark waters beneath me.
He reaches into the ocean and pulls me onto the boat. My mother grabs me again, wrapping her coat around my half naked body. Celso looks away from my lace lingerie.
“A lot of people would have seen that explosion.” He mutters. “I have to get you two out of here.”
“Where are we going?” I whimper.
“They’ll start a search of the wreckage. They’ll find him but not you.”
I shake my head. “They’ll know it was me - when I’m not there.”
“No, remember - I’m dropping you at the buoy. You will have to wait there until the rescuers find you. Exhausted and terrified, after getting thrown overboard in the explosion. Misha - do you remember what we talked about?” He asks sternly, staring at me with strained worry.
“I remember.”
I nod.
This is a plan we’ve already discussed a number of times.
In my pain I couldn’t remember all the details.
If I could go back in time, I would never have told Celso about his mother, I would never have told my mother about Vincent.
If I could go back in time, I would run away with him. We could leave Boston and never look back. We could disappear into the world and become strangers to everyone we used to know.
We could fall in love over and over again and be together forever.
Celso stops the boat next to the metal buoy, which is floating on the water with a tall mast and a red light.
“Go on, it’s going to be ok.” He says, holding out his hand and guiding me onto it.
“But it’s not.” I whisper. “It’s not going to be ok.”
My mother leans over the side of the boat and grabs my face. “Misha. Everything is going to be ok. I promise you. They will find you by morning and all of this will be over. Look at me. Do you understand?”
I look into my mother’s beautiful green eyes and nod.
“Yes.” I say, letting her strength sink into me.
In the distance, far far away at the shoreline, bright blue and red sirens scream across the water as the search and rescue boats launch.
“We have to go.” Celso says. “Misha - are you ok?” he asks, his eyes tight on me.
I nod again. “I’m ok. Go. Get our mother out of here.”
I cling tightly onto the rusted metal, wrapping my hands and legs around the raw, cold iron as I watch their boat move further and further away, silently escaping into the night.
It’s pitch dark, and the wind is cold on my wet, naked skin. Somewhere beneath me in the darkest pits of this hellish ocean is my wedding dress, drifting silently on the tide.
I dip my feet into the water.
My heart is aching too much. My body is numb with disbelief. I’ll never see him again.
The plan was perfect. It still is.
Except for the part where I will never see him again.
I lick my lips, and even though I’ve fallen beneath the waves, I can still taste his blood on my skin.
How do I take back what I’ve done?
How do I bring him back?
I dip my feet deeper into the ocean, and the bright red and blue lights begin to surround the burning yacht as it sinks lower into the water. I watch it. Flames lick against it, making it the brightest point. The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
I slip slowly off the buoy, my body caressed by the pure coldness of salt water. I gasp, pushing away from the buoy and lying on my back to stare up at the sky. My hair spills around me, moving with the ripples as the current already pulls me out to sea.
I don’t deserve to live.
I don’t want to.
I want to disappear and wake up in his arms.
Blowing the air from my lungs, I sink beneath the dark, silver surface of the water and let myself continue to fall, deeper and deeper into the ocean.