how much I loved you. How much you meant to me, how much you changed me. How much I respected you. You were so brave, Dominic, and so strong. I was so privileged to know you. To love you. As much as you tried, you were never a forgettable man. I will miss you every day of my life.” I press my hand to my chest.
“Attends-moi mon amour. Jusqu’à ce que nous nous revoyions. Jusqu’à ce que nous puissions sentir la pluie sur nos deux visages. Il doit y avoir une place pour nous dans la prochaine vie. Je ne veux pas d’un paradis où je ne te vois pas.” Until we meet again. Until we can feel the rain on both our faces. There has to be a time for us in the next life. I don’t want any part of a heaven where I don’t see you.
At the gate, I glance back at his grave one last time.
“A bientôt. Merci.” Until then. Thank you.
I close his office door just as he ends his phone call, his eyes blazing down my body in careful inspection before he darts them away. Guilt.
He stands and swallows, turning to look out his window. He has a view of the top of the plant and most of Triple Falls. It strikes me then I feel indifferent about him taking my father’s place. In a way, it seems just.
“I came to you yesterday, and you weren’t there.”
Did he think I left? From the looks of him, he did. But I don’t let it deter me.
“We need to talk.”
He turns to me, sliding his hands in his tailored pants. “Did I hurt you?”
“You know you didn’t.”
He looks back out the window. “I don’t know anything.”
“I think we both know that’s a lie.”
He scoffs—silence and tension lingering in the room before he speaks up softly. “Cecelia, I’m sorry. I had no right at all to—”
“If you’re going to apologize to me, look at me.”
He hasn’t slept, his jacket and tie are nowhere to be seen, his shirt is wrinkled and unbuttoned. He looks as defeated as I feel. He opens his mouth to speak, but I stop him.
“I let you because I always have. It was a decision. I wanted it. Maybe I was waiting for it, Jesus, I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter. I’m leaving.”
He swallows, and I see the faint dip of his chin.
Once upon a time, I was a lonely girl who met a lonely king, and we both suffered from too much pride and oh, how the reckless have fallen. Between my romantic notions and his aspirations, we deceived ourselves, and all I feel now is sorrow.
Sorrow for the three orphans that were left to battle it out for themselves due to their parents’ mistakes.
And that’s why I’m here, to address the boy inside the man and give him the explanation he rightfully deserves. But how in the hell am I going to convey this to him? Tell him that he built an empire based on a lie? That our lives collided because two people fell in love, and one of them made a mistake, which started a war, a war that has everything to do with me.
“I have to tell you something.”
Tobias studies me closely, and I know my face is paling. As much as I resent him, the guilt is riddling me.
“I…” I shake my head furiously and pull the envelope from my purse.
“Cecelia.” An order.
The words burst from my lips. “My mother started the fire that killed your parents. It was an accident. A horrible accident.”
I watch him carefully for a reaction, and he doesn’t so much as flinch. Instead, his eyes fill with curiosity. “How do you know that?”
“I found a letter from my mother to Roman.” I hold it out to him. “I went to Georgia yesterday and spoke to her. It’s all here, her confession. It was written a few months before I moved to Triple Falls. This letter is the reason I was here in the first place. It’s the truth, and you deserve it.”
He lifts the letter and studies it briefly before placing it on his desk.
“You aren’t going to read it?”
“No.”
“Then you should know Roman did it because she was—”
“I know.”
I’m shaking so hard it takes me a second to understand his reply.
“Wait, you what?”
“I know. Roman told me the day I met him.”
“The day you met him…you knew?” Anger slashes through me, and I cough incredulously, refusing to shed another tear.