Page 217 of The One

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The De Marco law demands blood. And my family will pay for the sins of one man.

For a fleeting moment, I had happiness. But my father has a talent for destroying everything good. His ambition, his greed. He sacrificed us all for it.

Would Mateo kill me himself? Or delegate the task?

A violent shiver wracks my body. If I have to die, I want to die in his arms. But that would haunt him forever, and I won’t do that to him.

The thought makes me sick.

I could warnmamma, urge her to flee with my sisters, but what kind of life would that be? Running. Hiding. Always afraid. We have nothing. Wearenothing.

I could beg him to spare us. Ask for exile instead. But could I bear a life without him?

My throat tightens. My breath turns shallow, crushed by regret.

Now, we’ll never know what we could have been.

Mateo and I are over.

I can’t breathe.

I rub my face, but the exhaustion won’t let me rest. My mind won’t stop. My heart won’t stop.

Mateo is my world. My universe.

It would be kinder to die, because a life without him makes no sense. Not now that I know what it’s like to be loved by him.

If he despises me, I couldn’t cope. Watching the love in his eyes turn to hate would kill me.

It already has.

He wanted to marry me today. This should have been the happiest day of my life.

But just like my last wedding day, doom and gloom hang over me.

There is no happily ever after. Not for me, anyway.

God, what have I done to deserve this?

I tried to be good. To be selfless.

So why am I being punished?

There is no winning.

Only pain.

Chapter Eighty-One

Mateo

Iopen the door to our bedroom and step inside.

Mari’s not there.

Panic grips me like a fist tightening around my throat.

Where is she?

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