Page 72 of Beautiful Villain
“I won’t stop you,” he said.
I didn’t thank him.
He turned toward the door, pausing there for just a moment like he might say something else.Like he might try one last time.
He didn’t.
The door closed behind him, firm and final, and I sat there staring at the empty space he left behind, forcing myself not to cry.
30
Gianni
Mikayla was gone.
Not gone in the soft, meaningless way people said it when they meant distance.Not taking space.Not cooling off.She was gone in the only way that mattered—physically.Out of the house.Through the gates.Beyond my reach.
I stood at the window and watched her walk away.
She didn’t hesitate or slow down.And she never once looked back.
That was the part that lodged somewhere deep and brutal beneath my ribs, sharp enough to stay there.
A small backpack hung off one shoulder.That was all she took.No suitcase.No coat from the carefully chosen clothes I’d bought for her.No money.I’d tried—more than once—to push cash into her hand.She’d refused it with the same flat finality she’d used on everything else.
No car.No driver.No protection.
Nothing.
She stripped herself down to the bare minimum like she was cutting herself free.Like taking anything from me would’ve meant leaving a piece of herself behind.
Dunn stood a few feet back, arms crossed, his jaw set tight.He’d been quiet since dawn, which meant he’d been thinking too much.I didn’t turn when he spoke.
“You’re really going to let her walk away,” he said.
I let out a slow breath through my nose that was barely controlled.
“Don’t.She made her choice.”
He didn’t argue right away.Just watched her disappear past the bend in the drive.
“Not much of a choice, if you ask me,” he said.
The gates slid open with a low, mechanical hum.
Mikayla walked through them without slowing.Without looking back.No pause.No flicker of doubt.She didn’t wait for me to call her name or change my mind.
She was already gone before the steel sealed shut behind her.
The second she disappeared from view, something in me broke clean in half.
I turned from the window so fast Dunn took a step back.
“Get out,” I said.
My voice didn’t rise.He read it anyway and got out of my way.Smart man.He left without a word, the door closing softly behind him.
The quiet that followed was unbearable.
