Page 32 of Rejected By My Shifter Billionaire
He had fucked up with Kassia. He had fucked up with Melissa. And now, it was fucking killing him to see how his cruelty had extinguished the light in her eyes.
“Ms. Summers—-” He reached for her.
She flinched. “Don’t.”
He froze.
Her voice was so damn thin, and the sound had the professor lowering his arm back to his side. If he pushed, she might just crumble, and he didn’t want that for her.
Kassia stared up at him. She wanted to curse him, wanted to cry, wanted to ask him why. But no words came out. All she could suddenly think about was that odd smile on his face earlier and how stupid she was to have ignored it.
He wasodd.Just like her mother. And because he was odd that way, he had been able to play with her like she was no better than a toy.
“Kassia, I—-”
She shook her head jerkily, not wanting to hear her name on his lips. “Goodbye, Professor.” She turned around and walked away. If her shoulders shook a little, well, that was fine. At least the tears didn’t fall, not until she was able to lock herself inside one of the restroom cubicles.
She sank to the floor.
And that was when she cried.
FOR A LONG TIME, ALESSANDROremained rooted in his spot, the devastating sound of Kassia’s tears ripping him apart.
He gazed sightlessly towards where Kassia had disappeared in the distance, knowing that he could go after her and maybe make things right.
But he didn’t.
Because maybe, just fucking maybe, it was better this way for both of them.
If her smiles had made him realize she was special, her tears had made Alessandro realize she was like no one else, andthathe wasn’t ready for.
It was better this way.
He repeated the words in his mind, endlessly, using them to chase away the seemingly incredible picture of Kassia walking away from him with her back straight, her shoulders shaking, a picture of defiance and shattered innocence.
Other girls her age would have thrown a bitchy fit, would have called him names and sought to humiliate him the way he had deliberately sought to humiliate her, thinking she had betrayed him.
Kassia could and should have done any or all of those, but she hadn’t.
She had simply walked away.
And that was fine.
It was better this way.
He had existed all these years without Kassia, and he would go on living, would go back to enjoying his life the way he had when he had never known someone like her existed.
He did not need her because she would be his weakness, and she did not need him because he would only bring danger to her life.
And so it was better this way.
Better.
Safer.
Alessandro’s heart was devoid of emotion by the time he reached for his door and entered his office.
It was better this way.
