“Michael and Kai are smarter than you, you know?” she said. I listened. “Because if there’s one thing they know about revenge, Damon, it’s that it won’t feel nearly as good as her love will.” I clenched my teeth together against the ache in my gut, but I felt it anyway. Fuck you, Rika. “But I think you already know that, don’t you?” she continued. Fuck you so much. “She’ll make you stronger,” she said. “And we need you strong.” I closed my eyes, not wanting to feel the shit I felt when I was nineteen when I let myself . . . want her. When I let myself fucking love her.
