Page 40 of Always Meant To Be
Her dark brown eyes show humor, and I stick my tongue out at her, making her chuckle.
“Am I showing already?” I ask, looking at my belly again.
She hums. “A little bit, but that’s normal for thirteen weeks.”
Normal, really, normal….
I turn and look at her, scoffing, “None of this is normal, Holly.”
She nods, causing her dark brown hair to fall over her eyes, and she pushes it away. “I know. What Romeo did was wrong, but you can’t change that now. All you can do is brace yourself for the outcome, and yes, for thirteen weeks, it is normal to havea swell, though most people would probably believe it’s a food baby.”
I shake my head, smiling at her, proud that she’s training to become a midwife.
“Bracing myself for the outcome is easier said than done, Hol, especially when I feel like I’m dying on the inside,” I murmur, and her eyes soften.
When the man you fall in love with, the man who was promised to your older sister, hurts you the way he has with me…. How can I brace myself for the outcome when said outcome is me leaving him?
How can I brace myself for the heartbreak I’m going to feel watching him marry my sister?
Done with my screwed-up life, I sigh and change the subject, “Still can’t say his name, huh?”
She narrows her eyes. “Nice change in conversation.” I smirk, and she continues, “And no, it’s not that I can’t say it, it’s the fact I don’t want to, and I don’t care how immature that makes me. He’s a lying manwhore.”
I nod. “Who you are not afraid of despite his….” I pause for a moment, trying to figure out the right word, and she mumbles, “Profession?”
I grin. “Yeah, his profession.”
She chuckles. “No, I’m not afraid of him. We had a love-hate relationship for nearly five years, and he, God….” She sighs, and my heart instantly hurts for her as she admits, “He made me fall for him only to keep pushing me away, sleeping around with that flipping nurse because he thought I needed to finish school first, but he never made me feel unsafe, like he could hurt me physically.”
I nod, my eyes going back to the mirror again, but instead of looking over my small bump, they land on my wedding ring, knowing exactly how she feels.
Loving a Russo consumes you, but they don’t care if they hurt you emotionally.
After watching me for a few minutes, she asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
I chew the inside of my lip. “A part of me, a small part, doesn’t want to, but the rational part knows I need to do this.”
She looks at me with concern. “What about the contract, the proof he’s shown you? Why would he go through that if he wanted her?”
I look at her and shrug. “I don’t know; it’s something I haven’t been able to figure out yet.”
She furrows her brows, crosses her arms over her chest, and asks, “Did you believe the contract when you read it? Did you understand his actions, I mean?”
I smile sadly and admit, “I did, and then he spent the evening with my sister, hanging off his arm a few days later?—”
She cuts in, “To keep you safe though, right?”
I raise a brow and ask, “Who’s side are you on?” causing her to smirk and refute, “Yours, always yours. I’m trying to help you see reason, to keep all options open, because I know you’re in love with him, and no, you know it’s not Stockholm Syndrome, before you even mention it.”
I snort before sighing and admit, “I thought it was at first,” making her grin. “I did rationalize that. The contract was always in the back of my mind, but then he jumped on top of her, leaving me to fend for myself against spraying bullets.” I frown. “He kissed her while I struggled to breathe.”
Holly steps toward me, and I give her a sad smile. “She’s been calling him nonstop, and two days ago, he left his phone on the bed when he was in the shower.” She raises a brow, and I deny, “I wasn’t snooping. I went to grab some more of my clothes. Sarah forgot to grab them, and I saw it on the bed. I planned to ignore it, but then it lit up and, surprise-surprise, it was my sister. Iwent through their text thread only to see everything deleted, so I went onto his pictures, and he had dozens of naked photos of her.”
Holly’s mouth opens in shock, and she stutters, “W-what….”
I nod and walk over to the bed, grabbing my purse and admitting, “I went through the phone. She calls several times a day, the logs he, for some reason, hasn’t deleted. He has a locked folder I couldn’t access, and there was only one picture of me from our wedding day, which was set as his screensaver, and even that, I think, is more for show.”
She opens her mouth to say something, but before she can say anything, someone opens my door, making us both jump, looking that way.