Page 194 of Never Die for a Sinner
Only to find Paulina standing on the other side.
My stomach sinks violently, as if I’ve just stepped off a ledge. I don’t even know why I allowed hope to get the better of me. Of course, it wouldn’t be him.
“Can I help you?” I manage, my voice flat, stripped of emotion. Whatever opinion she has of me doesn’t matter anymore.
“Actually, yes,” she says, lifting her chin with that familiar arrogance and brushing past me like into the room.
I stand there, stunned, the door still open behind me as I watch her stride into my room like she’s got every right to be here.
“I didn’t invite you in,” I mutter when she drops into the chair beside my bed, poised like she’s settling in for a long chat.
“That sounds like your problem,” she shoots back, eyes flicking around the room with thinly veiled judgment.
This bitch.
I exhale sharply and push the door closed with more force than necessary, crossing my arms over my chest as I glare at her.
“What do you want, Paulina?”
I know I’m being rude, maybe even cruel, but I’m done playing nice. I’ve bitten my tongue for too long, swallowed too many words. And after tomorrow, I won’t be under her thumb anymore.
She has the audacity to look me dead in the eye. “I want you to take Levi back.”
Her words hit me like a freight train. My heart jolts violently, the air knocked from my lungs. It’s been days since I’ve heard his name out loud. Just hearing it feels like ripping open a wound I’ve barely managed to stitch shut.
My legs give out beneath me, and I collapse onto the edge of the bed, clutching the mattress for support. My heart pounds in my chest, loud and erratic.
“If you’ve come here to bargain for him . . . save it.”
She tilts her head like she doesn’t understand the problem. Like it’s a detail that can be easily brushed aside.
“Whatever happened, fix it.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, sarcasm sharpening my voice. “Did I miss the part where you were allowed to barge in here and start making demands? I already quit. I’ll be gone tonight.”
“Despite everything, I like you, Ava,” she says unexpectedly.
“Yeah,” I snort, “that was always really obvious.”
She ignores the bite in my tone. “Something about you changed him. I don’t know what it was, but he softened. You made him different. Better. I’ve never seen Levi care for someone the way he did for you.”
My chest tightens, the pain almost unbearable. I remember that version of him—the one who held me like I was his lifeline, who whispered things in the dark that he couldn’t say in the light. The version who tried so hard to be more than the pain he was born into.
But that was all a façade. Just like everything else, he made me feel.
“Paulina . . . ” I sigh, pressing a hand to my sternum, as if I can keep my heart from shattering again. “It’s over.”
She goes quiet. So quiet that for a moment, I think she’s stopped breathing. I wouldn’t be surprised—these days, the universe seems to take every opportunity it can to screw me.
“Where would you go?”
“I have a house. My Gran’s house. I’ll find a new job,” I shrug. “Does it matter?”
“You can’t.”
“I can,” I snap. “And I will. It’s for the best. There’s nothing left for me here.”
“You have us,” she says, softly—so unexpectedly soft that it actually hurts.
