Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
He was walking away. Away from me, leaving me behind with the devil.
No, come back. Please come back. Don’t leave me.
He started to fade away. I screamed and screamed, but no sound was made. Only the laughter of the devil could be heard.
“I hate you.” Those words resonated in my ears.
“She is yours,” he said to the devil. No! I’m yours! Only yours. Please come back.
“Never show your face to me again. You are dead to me.”
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Please. Please.
Then he was gone, fading away into the dark, leaving me behind with the devil who tortured my mind, body, and soul. I shattered as I lost sight of my savior.
“NO!”
I shot up in bed, my body drenched in sweat. My ears rung with my screams. The light was instantly on, and Alessio was by my side in a matter of seconds, but I flinched away.
All I could see was him walking away from me, fading in the darkness and leaving me behind. No.
Lurching forward in bed, I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding him tight to me. My hold was unyielding. I refused to let him go. He quickly wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me onto his lap, holding me just as tight.
“Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me. Don’t ever leave me. I can’t. Please. Don’t leave me, Alessio,” I mumbled in his chest, my heart racing at the thought of being without him. My body was shaking with silent tremors, and I trembled in his arms.
Tears ran down my cheeks in an endless flow. I continued to beg him.
“Shhh…I’m here. I’m not leaving. I’m right here, Angel.”
His words were soothing, but the fear inside me wouldn’t subdue. Alessio continued to soothe me as I cried in his chest. He never let go of me, his arms remaining tight around me. I felt his fingers softly caressing my hips.
“I’m not leaving. I will never leave you. Don’t cry, Angel. I can’t bear your tears. I’m right here. I got you,” Alessio continued sweetly in my ears, willing me to believe him.
I wished I could. I wanted to believe him. It was just a dream, just a nightmare I tried to convince myself.
But was it really? Maybe it was just showing the truth, my reality when Alessio learned the truth.
After all, he hated me. The real me. He hated the Abandonatos, and no matter how much I wished it wasn’t my reality, it was…and I was his enemy.
My fingers tightened around his neck at the thought of losing him. My guilt tasted bitter. My heart ached, and my mind felt numb. I wanted to forget. I just wanted to live in this happy bubble with Alessio, but for how long?
My tears eventually stopped, my sobbing turning into small hiccups. Alessio’s soothing words finally penetrated through my foggy mind, and I went limp against him. We were still holding each other, refusing to let go.
I couldn’t even if I tried. It felt like if I let him go, I would crumble to pieces.
“Please don’t leave me,” I whispered one final time.
“I won’t,” he vowed.
“Promise me.”
“I promise you, Angel.”
“You said you don’t break your promises.” My voice was muffled as I buried my face in his hard chest.
“And I don’t. I will never break my promise to you, Ayla. I’m yours as much as you are mine. I’m never letting you go,” he soothed in my hair, placing a kiss on the top of my head.
His words were what I wanted to hear. They were more than I wanted. Except whatever promises he made to me, they would mean nothing if he learned my truth.
But I still made him promise. It was selfish of me. Maybe…just maybe, if he made this promise, he wouldn’t leave me?
Alessio was the type of man who would never break his vow, no matter what. So I tried to bind him to me in any way possible.
My hands went to his chest, one place right over his heart. I felt its beat against my palm. It was racing just as hard as mine.
He was worried. Scared even.
My fingers softly caressed his chest as I took a deep breath and confessed one thing.
“My name is not Ayla Blinov.”
They were the hardest words ever spoken by me. It broke a little piece of my heart. In that moment, I wished I was Ayla Blinov. Not an Abandonato.
I wasn’t ready to lose him yet. But I could confess something. Anything. One step at a time.
But his next words took me by surprise.
“I know.”
My head snapped up, and I stared at him, fear slithering down my spine. His face was almost unreadable, but his eyes were soft, regarding me as if I was someone precious.
“You know?” I sputtered.
“I made a background check the very first day you came here,” he simply replied. “And got nothing. We searched up every single Ayla in the country. Even did some background checks on names that sounded similar to yours. But still got nothing. It was like you never existed. So I knew you were lying about your name.”