Page 69 of Beautiful Obsessions
“Nothing.I just…” I exhaled.“I can’t imagine anything slowing me down like that.Sleeping all the time.Letting things… come to a complete stop.”
His gaze didn’t leave me.
“Is that something you think about?”
I frowned.“What?”
“A husband,” he said.“A home.A family.”
I scoffed, too quick.
“I already have a family.”
“That’s not what I meant, Antonella.”
I looked away, letting my eyes drift to the window.Anything to avoid the weight of what he was actually asking.
Some conversations didn’t just open doors.They dragged you through them.
“Children,” he clarified.
The word hit somewhere it shouldn’t have.Tight.Unsteady.
“That’s not in the cards for me.”
“Why not?”
I looked back at him.He wasn’t mocking me.He wasn’t pushing.
He actually wanted to know.
“Look at the life I live,” I said.“What part of that looks like stability to you?”
“Most of the men you grew up with are settling down,” he said.“Building futures.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
I shook my head slowly.
“Because I wouldn’t be able to do it right.”The words felt wrong even as I said them.“I wouldn’t be able to put them first.Not the way you’re supposed to.I’d always choose this.”I gestured vaguely around me.“The family.The chaos.Everything that comes with it.”
“That’s not how family works.”
I arched a brow.“Oh?Enlighten me.”
“You don’t lose who you are,” he said.“You don’t stop being loyal.You just… build something alongside it.”
I let out a quiet breath.
“That sounds nice.”
“It’s not just nice.It’s most people’s reality.”
I tilted my head, studying him.
“You really believe that.”
