45

Cara

The guards don't try to stop me as I walk down the long driveway, tears streaming down my face.

I don't look at the trees, at the bushes, even at the ground. I keep my chin up, my eyes forward, and my hands balled into fists.

None of this is mine. None of it ever will be.

This was a joke from the beginning. I let myself be seduced by him, by his words, by that stupid nickname, by the way he kissed me and fucked me. I let myself start to think this could work.

I was always lying to myself.

Eros is what he is—a mafia lord.

Maybe not as bad as Christopher, but heartless.

He'll never care about me the way I was beginning to care about him.

He'll never love me.

Once I'm past the guard house and beyond the gate, I let the emotions swell and crash through me. Tears roll down my face. I feel silly as I walk along the early morning sidewalk crying like a child. I have to pause on a bench and bury my face in my hands, my body shuddering. A nice older man asks if I'm okay, and I tell him th