Page 176 of When We Fall: Part Two
“Let’s not think about it,” I said.
“Enzo, I can’t fucking do this, man. I can’t lose her. We’ve lost so much already. Everything is fucking breaking apart. I can’t do it. What would my life be without her? Please. Talk to her. Tell her you love her. Set the date for the wedding. Elope. We can all go to Vegas. You can marry her. We can be happy. I-I could marry her if you won’t. I have a ring.” He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a sparkling diamond in a delicate flower setting. “I-I bought it a few weeks ago in-in case…”
I wrapped my hand around his, closing the pretty ring in his hand.
“Cole, stop,” I said gently. “You said you were in. Are you or not?”
“Doesinmean I lose the only woman I’ve ever loved? Or will ever love?”
“I think it does, but it won’t be forever,” I said in a soft voice. “We need to end this. For E. For Fox. For us, if we ever want a future with her. If we don’t, things may happen from which we can’t recover, and then we won’t be able to salvage anything. So I’ll ask you again, brother,are you in?”
He let out a choked sob but nodded for me.
“I-I’m in.”
I pulled him to me before hugging him tightly. He clung to me, his hand balled into a tight fist as he held on to the ring in his palm.
“When?” he whispered.
“Soon,” I answered in a hoarse voice, knowing it would change everything. It was the beginning of the end.
Or maybe it was the end of the beginning.
It was open for debate.
Several daysafter Rosalie came home, I was sitting in a restaurant across from Celeste Vander Veer, my guts in a painful knot as I played a part that was taking all my willpower not to go dark on.
All I wanted to do was strangle the life from this bitch until her body lay twitching on the floor.
She was a demon—a monster.
But so was I, and I wanted revenge while she wanted a fucking ring.
She’d raped E. Likely had a hand in Fox’s death. She was thrilled when I called to ask her to meet up. It took every ounce of sanity I had to force myself out the door to meet with her.
The idea of pulling my gun out and putting a bullet between her eyes weighed heavily on me as I sipped my wine, not giving a fuck what the crazy bitch had to say.
“I’m so glad you wanted to meet up. There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” she said, licking her lips.
I took another drink to stop myself from snapping at her.
“Ethan—”
“You don’t say his fucking name,” I said, glaring at her.
She snapped her mouth closed, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.
“We’re having a baby. Did he tell you?”
“He did,” I said, drinking more. I envisioned breaking the glass and jamming the shards into her throat while watching her bleed out.
“I was wondering if he and I could?—”
“No.” I held up my hand to stop her. “You and Ethan are never going to happen. Got it?”
“But our child?—”
“Ourchild,” I said, the nausea swirling in my guts like an angry snake.
