Page 17 of Shattered Choices

I highly doubt that. Every time my lawyer went to see him, he made excuses not to sign the papers.

“Of course not. You should know that by now.”

I fist my hands at my sides and narrow my eyes at him. “What should I know exactly, Salvatore?”

“I’m here to talk things out. I’m sorry about the way I acted when I found out you were pregnant.” I close my eyes and grit my teeth. How dare he? “I shouldn’t have… it wasn’t your fault…”

I cut him off. “You blamed me for getting pregnant. You accused me like it was the worst crime. You ignored me, and there is nothing you can say now to make things better.”

He stands, ignoring my glare. He takes a step toward me, and I raise my hand, stopping him from coming any closer.

His jaw clenches, and he takes a calming breath before speaking. “I understand that, but I also need you to understand that I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I had baggage. I still do.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m dealing with my problems and the way I feel. I did a lot of thinking and made some drastic decisions to understand my past and why everything had such an impact on me. I’m not healed, but I’m ready to change.”

I cross my arms in front of me. “And you came here for what? A medal? Why do you think I would even care after all this time?”

He doesn’t answer. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them, his blue eyes filled with determination. “I want you back. I want what we had and more. I want to start over, whatever that means.”

I throw my head back and laugh. “You want to start over?” I take slow steps toward him. “How do you plan to do that?” Another step. “Do you have a time machine that will take us back, so you can take back what you said to me when I told you I was pregnant?”

His jaw ticks, and I can see I’m hitting him in all the right places.

“Would you take away my pain, loss, and the emptiness I felt after I woke up alone in that hospital? Would you not be a coward and face the aftermath of your decisions?” I take one last step toward him. “I want to hate you so hard that I don’t have to feel the betrayal I felt and to erase that feeling of weakness when I was kicked into unconsciousness. I want to hate you so much that I don’t have to feel pity for you. Because that is what I feel. Ifeel sorry that you didn’t understand the gift God gave you, and you gambled it all away. And for what?” I shake my head. “Was it worth it? I hope it was because that is something you will have to live with.”

His shoulders sag and his head bows as he closes his eyes. “It wasn’t,” he says, his voice barely a whisper.

I’m not sure if I heard right. “Say that again?”

He opens his eyes but doesn’t look at me. “I said it wasn’t worth it. I just wish I’d known that before. I wish I’d known how to deal with my past before everything went wrong.” His eyes search mine and a grin shows on his face. “You don’t hate me. Let me make things right again. I can’t take away all that you went through, but at least let me make things right.”

I shake my head. “There was nothing right in our relationship to start with. You forced me to marry you. You exposed me and brought me back to the life I ran away from.”

He stands and steps toward me, taking my hands in his. “Then let us start over.” I pull my hands from his and take a step back.

I take a deep breath and narrow my eyes at him. “There is nothing for you here, Salvatore. Leave. Go back to New York, and before you do, sign those papers.” There is a commotion by the door, and I can hear Pino. “I’m getting married. I moved on, and so should you.”

A growl comes from him. “You can’t get married. You are my wife. You belong to me.”

“I don’t belong to you. I never did and will never belong to anyone. I’m no one’s property.”

“But youaremy wife.”

The door opens and an angry-faced Pino enters.

“I’m not,” I say to Salvatore.

He steps toward me, and in one move, he wraps his hand around my waist and pulls me toward him, his other handfinding my neck, and he places his lips on my ear. “You will always be mine, Bella, and I will do anything to get you back.”

My stomach dips and everything I felt for Salvatore and tried to forget comes back to the surface. The lust, the longing, the want, and the need. The need to be by his side.

And I curse myself.

The feeling doesn’t last long as Salvatore is pulled from me. “Get your hands off her.” Pino seizes Salvatore’s hands. “What do I do with him?”

I shake my head, trying to ride out the storm inside me. “Just let him go.”

He drags a smirking Salvatore with him toward the door, and as I think about what just happened, Salvatore says, “Don’t forget what I just promised you.”

nine

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