Page 186 of Unsuitable

I love you, too.

Don’t leave me, please.

The words are on the tip of my tongue.

But I never say them.

I have to let him go. For his sake. For Jesse’s. And for mine.

“Will I ever see you again?” I breathe through the agony.

He tugs me into his arms and hugs me tight. “Thank you,” he whispers, answering my question without actually saying the words. “You brought me back to life, Daisy, and for that, I will never be able to repay you.”

I’m never going to see him again.

My heart splinters in two.

He removes his arms from around me, leaving me cold. He stares down at me and gives me a sad smile. “Good-bye, Daisy Smith.”

I swallow past my tears. “Good-bye, Kastor Matis,” I whisper.

He touches my cheek with his hand one last time, and then he turns and walks out of my apartment and out of my life, taking a piece of my broken heart with him.

Epilogue

Three and a Half Years Later

Seeing the last customer out, bidding them good-bye, I shut the door and turn the sign over to read, Closed. Walking back around the counter, I drop my tired butt down onto a stool.

It’s been a long day.

A hard day.

Jesse’s starting university.

I drove him there this morning, so he could get settled in the dorm.

So, we’d packed my car up with his stuff, and I’d tried not to cry the whole time.

Yep, I have a car. I learned how to drive a few years ago. So much easier having a car, and I’m going to need it with Jesse being in Birmingham.

I was so proud of him when he got accepted. I might have wanted him to stay in London, but he’d loved Birmingham when we visited earlier in the year, and they have a really good law school.

Yep, that’s right. My boy wants to be a lawyer.

When he told me what he wanted to be, I won’t deny that I was surprised. He’d never shown an interest in the law before.

And the law hadn’t exactly been a friend to me over the years.

But whatever he wanted to do, I would be happy with it. I’d support him.

Then, he told me why he wanted to be a lawyer.

He said that the law had failed me in so many ways. My lawyer had failed me. He said there were too many shit lawyers out there, and he wanted to be one of the good ones. He wants to make a difference. Make sure that what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone else.

I got a little choked up at that.

Okay, I might have cried.