Page 116 of Till Forever Falls Apart
I wouldn’t be here, looking at a grave.
I wiped away the tears that had escaped before turning around.
Hayden stood there, his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. He’d probably been there for a while.
“I don’t want to hear anything.” I started walking, and Hayden soon followed.
“You decided to take matters into your own hands and went after Dante?”
I paused and looked at him. “So what? After what he did to you—to us—he deserves everything that’s coming to him. He was lucky he got away, because I would have strung him up and tortured him for days.”
“Sebastian … you smashed one of their heads in with your foot.”
“Since when have you cared how I kill people? As long as it’s done, what does the method matter?”
I went to walk away, but he grabbed my arm. “You need to tell me what’s going on.”
I pulled away. “I don’t need to tell you shit.”
“Don’t start shutting people out again. You need to stop painting over the broken parts of you instead of fixing them.”
“Did you know that my dad had another son?”
Hayden paled. “What?”
“Caspian. The man you found nothing on. He’s Dad’s son, too. My half-brother. He’d kept that from me my whole life. He treated me like shit and made me believe I was alone in the world.”
Hayden’s mouth parted, his eyes widening in shock.
“Sebastian, I’m sorry. There was nothing on him, I swear.” He paused for a beat. “Please don’t let this make you go back to that man you once were.”
“It’s too late.” Turning my back on him, I started walking again.
“And Aria?” he said.
I paused for a moment as she ran through my mind, my heart aching. She deserved better. She always had. I should neverhave allowed myself to fall for her. I should have kept her at a distance, away from all of this.
I should have kept her safe from me.
“She’s better off without me destroying her life.”
She loved a different version of me, and that man no longer existed.
There was no hope for me, no saving me from this. I’d fully allowed it to consume me.
There was no going back now.
As I stepped into the bedroom, something glistened on the bedside table, catching my eye. I turned and walked over to it, bathed in sunlight from the window. The butterfly and moon crescent necklace I’d bought Aria for Christmas stared back at me. I ran my fingers over it, taking it into my palm and squeezing it tightly. Taking a deep breath, I picked up the note that sat underneath it.
Sebastian,
I love you so much, but I can’t be around you right now. I need space to breathe. I need time. You are not the man I fell in love with, and I don’t know how to get him back or if he’ll ever come back. I’m scared I will lose you for good, and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know how to fix us.
Aria
I let go of the note and watched it flutter to the floor.
47
