and she sways as if suddenly knocked off balance by the truth. “Oh my God. I’m her. I’m really Alexandra Romanov. But how?”
“Angel…” I can see it coming, and the blood pumps faster through my veins. The door is opening wider, and the thread holding the past from the present is severing.
She glances up, blinking so rapidly she almost looks asleep. “Is this why I can’t remember anything before the group home? What, did I just block it out? Am I just going to wake up one morning and remember? I don’t want that, Dominic! I don’t want those images in my head.” Spinning around in a circle, she grimaces while slamming the heel of her palm against her temple harder and harder and harder. “It’s already too crowded in here. There’s no more room. No room!”
Jesus Christ.
Grabbing her wrist, I pull her against me. “Rook, just listen to me for a minute.”
I’ve heard of lightbulb moments. I always thought it was just shit people said. But it’s real, and when you see it, especially when it damns you to hell, it settles in the pit of your stomach like a rock.
“Oh my God,” Angel gasps, shoving her other arm into my chest, forcing me to release her as she stumbles backward. “You knew. That day in the bar. You knew who I was, didn’t you? That’s why you came for me.”
I scrub a hand down my face. “I didn’t. I swear. I knew there was something special about you, but even I’m not that good.”
“Then why hide it?” she demands, her emotions switching off like a faucet. “What aren’t you telling me, Dominic?”
“I know what I did was wrong. I’m not trying to justify it. But you have to believe me when I say there’s a reason why I didn’t tell you, and it’s not what you—”
“You want money?” she yells, and I can see by her riotous expression she didn’t hear a word I just said. “Here.” In a flurry of movement, she rips off her jewelry and starts hurling it at me. “Take it.”
“It has nothing to do with your goddamn money,” I shout, batting away a ruby necklace and barely dodging her diamond ring clocking me in the eye. “Will you fucking stop?”
I get that she’s pissed. I deserve her anger, but damn it, I also deserve a chance to explain without being assaulted with family heirlooms. I’m an asshole, but I’m not a monster.
At least not about this.
“Rook, listen to me. You don’t know everything. I’ve been protecting you from—”
Grabbing handfuls of hair, Angel doubles over and lets out a gut-wrenching wail so tortured and painful, I’ll hear it for the rest of my life. “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies,” she cries. “Ruining my life once wasn’t good enough for you, so—what? You thought you’d give it another go? I’m Alexandra Romanov, Dominic! We did this as a team, and you’re still you, but I’m not me anymore. I’m her.” Releasing her hair, she presses the back of her hands to her forehead, squeezing her eyes closed as mascara rolls down her cheeks. “Oh my God, I’m her. Her. The girl in the mirror. I’m her, and now I’m lost. I’m so lost, and it’s dark. I don’t know if it’ll ever stop being so dark.”
She’s breaking. I see it, and I fucking pulled the trigger.
I always thought I didn’t have a heart, and if I did, it was incapable of anything but hate. Yet the woman standing in front of me stole it. She holds it in the palm of her hand, and even if she throws it at my feet or rips it in two, I have no regrets.
I step forward, reaching for her.
“No!” she shrieks, stumbling backward. “It’s not fair, Dominic! This skin,” she holds up her arm, pinching it. “I’m trapped in it. It’s not mine anymore. It’s hers.” Tears stream down her face, and it feels like jagged shards of glass are tearing at my chest, shredding the skin, ripping at my heart. Her fingers pinch tighter, tugging and twisting her own skin until it turns red. “And…I…want…it…off!”
Jesus Christ. She’s about to draw blood.
I can’t take seeing her so shattered and broken. Instinctively, I grasp at the broken pieces crumbling before my eyes. “Angel, baby…”
“No!” Her arm shoots out, forcing space between us. My heart beats with the seconds of silence that pass as a calm, unfamiliar smile slowly spreads across her face. “Haven’t you