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“Hey, dolcezza,” he calls out, smiling. Sweetness. I equally hate and adore Leo’s pet name for me. I love he calls me something no one else does, but why does it have to be something so innocent and pure and sisterly?
“I would take a thousand bullets for you, dolcezza, and you never need to thank me. Protecting you is the one thing I am permitted to do. And I am going to protect you until the day I die, even if I have to cherish you from the shadows.”
“In every lifetime, I would choose you, Natalia.” Taking her hand, I place it over my heart. “We may be apart, dolcezza, but you will always be the only woman I love.”
“I know you love him, Nat. I suspect he loves you too.” My heart thumps behind my chest cavity.
“‘It isn’t possible to love and part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal.’”
His voice is all choked up as he reads. “‘“I taught him,” he quavered, “to trust in love. I said: “when love comes, that is reality.” I said: “Passion does not blind. No. Passion is sanity, and the woman you love, she is the only person you will ever really understand.”’”
“I think I’m destined to lose everyone I love. Destined to never know a moment’s happiness.” She drops her eyes, refusing to look at me, and I let go of her face.
“Maybe in the next lifetime, we will get to be together,” she says, smiling sadly before ripping her hand from mine and yanking the door open. “Until then,” she whispers, looking at me one final time as tears roll down her face. “Stay safe, my love.” And then she leaves. Taking every single part of my heart with her.
“I miss you,” he whispers, slowly opening his eyes. Discreetly, he hooks his pinkie in mine, and my breath stutters in my throat. “I miss you so fucking much.”
He jams his finger in his temple. “You’re in here.” He slaps a hand over his heart. “And here.” Stepping toward me, he takes my hands in his. His wild eyes are frantic as they probe mine. “I love you, Nat. I can’t keep denying it. Run away with me. Let’s disappear off the face of the earth. Ben would cover for us. I know he would. We can be together.”
No, thank you, dolcezza, because I have dreamed of holding you in my arms again while you sleep, for years, and now I’m getting to do it again.
