67
DALLAS
So, this was what it felt like to cry.
As if death strangled me in his cruel hands, and I struggled in his grip despite yearning to join him.
Heavy tears tumbled down my cheeks. Guilt consumed me like a bloodthirsty monster, feasting on my organs.
You did this to him. It’s your fault.
As Romeo lay motionless in my arms, I couldn’t help but wonder where the thing that poisoned him was and how I could get my hands on it to join him in eternal slumber.
The wish I’d made refused to stop ringing in my ears.
My one and only wish is for you to die in my arms, Romeo Costa. I want to see you when you draw your last breath. To feel your skin turn cold and lifeless beneath my fingers. My wish is to witness your nostrils struggle to move as you consume oxygen for the last time. I want to watch you suffer for all the suffering you did to me. And there is nothing and no one I want more in this life.
My fantasy turned into my reality, and my reality turned into my nightmare.
I rocked back and forth, trembling with sobs that tore at me like sharp knives.
“You can’t leave me. Not now. Not when you finally love me. You can’t die. You’ve survived too much.”
I cupped his cheek, so pale and frozen beneath my fingertips. “My dark Romeo. My misunderstood beast. You’re stronger than poison, than mortality, than death. I never got to say I love you. Wake up, and I promise to say it back.”
He didn’t budge. Didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe.
Time is regret’s weapon of choice. And this time, it struck me so hard, I knew I would never recover.
I pressed our foreheads together, begging to take his cold and exchange it for my warmth. “Please, come back to me. I love you more than I love everything in this life combined—my family, my friends, my books, myself.”
I tilted my head up and caught a rose petal as it floated down, landing on the nightstand.
The last petal dropped.
Just when Romeo told me he loved me. Long after I’d fallen for him. And I’d keep falling. Plummeting down the endless depths of my love for him.
But ours wouldn’t be a fairy tale with a happy ending. Instead, what I got was a cautionary tale.
My arms wrapped tighter around him, even when I felt a hand rest on my back.
“Come on, Dallas.” It was Zach, with his velvety voice. The man could announce the apocalypse on national television and still sound like he was coaxing you into bed with him. “The paramedics are here.”
It took his gentle force to loosen my arms from my husband, as paramedics circled Romeo, hoisting him up onto a gurney.
I was limp and boneless in Zach’s arms. He tried righting me up to a standing position, but I collapsed into a fetus-shaped blob on the floor.
Parking his hands on his waist, he glared at me from above. “Yours is the sappiest marriage of convenience I’ve ever witnessed.”
“I love him.” I moaned into my chest, a pool of tears gathering on my neck. “I love him so much. I can’t live without him.”
Zach stepped back, as though feelings were a contagious disease. Oliver powered into the room as they ushered Romeo out.
I knew I should have chased the paramedics down the hallway. Joined them on the ride to the hospital. Asked questions.
Anythingother than stay here.
But I felt too empty to move.
Oliver cocked his head. “Uh–huh. What do we have here?”
“A distressed Juliet. She says she can’t live without him.” Zach’s tone matched that of a pharmaceutical commercial. The voice that rattled off the nasty side effects of the advertised drug.
He produced hand sanitizer from his pocket and squished a good portion onto his palm.
“And her way of showing this is taking a nap on the floor?”
“I’m not taking a nap on the floor, you asshole.” I shot to my feet. Fresh anger sizzled through my bloodstream. “I’m going to fight for him. I have to show him what he means to me.”
I didn’t know why I’d told them this.
Maybe I needed to verbalize it to myself.
Oliver swung his keys around his finger. “I’ll drive her to the hospital.”
Zach nodded. “And I’ll hunt down Jared, bring him to the police, and catch them up to speed on Madison’s bullshit.”
Maybe they were doing it for my sake, but their utter calmness almost made me forget the last time I’d held Romeo. He was as cold as the marble floor in the ballroom where we first met.
“He’ll be okay, won’t he?” I clutched Zach’s lapels.
I had a feeling Oliver’s tongue could not be trusted, be it with his words or the pleasure he brought on women.
Zach looked away, ushering me out of the room by the small of my back. “Let’s go.”
I turned, staring at the spot I’d last held Romeo.
I’d never realized it before. That marriage is a mirror, showing you exactly where your empty parts are before it fills them up.
And if Romeo left me, I’d be forever empty.