Tarnished Love by Bianca Borell
CHLOE
“Don’t call me again.” I storm away, cutting the ties for good, and everything in me frees as if I can take my very first breath of air unpolluted, unconstrained by the heaviness of murkiness.
“Don’t be ungrateful.”
I am done. I am done being this needy girl wanting her daddy’s attention. I downed one glass after another, not caring as I begged for his attention, but not anymore. And if Filip doesn’t pull his head from his ass, I am leaving him next. I’m going to change clothes, and then head to his place to demand he hear me out.
Plan in motion, I open the door to my apartment and come to a complete halt. I blink at Anabelle pointing at the man next to her with his back at me.
“Better than my rabbit,” she giggles, and I shake my head at her. When he turns around, my eyes well up.
“Chloe, this is Filip.”
The silence stretches and when Anabelle looks at us both, her eyes widen, panic striking her features.
“Filip, what’s your last name?”
“Du Mont.”
He eyes me with a malice that knocks me out of balance just as much as the image in front of me. He won’t get the satisfaction of seeing me crumble at his feet. I can’t look at them. I suffocate from within, my lungs trapping the air, while pain detonates in my chest, and I scurry away. A door being shut startles me and one second later Anabelle knocks on my door.
“I am so sorry. Can I come in?”
“I can’t do this right now.”
“Please, I didn’t know. Chloe, hear me out.”
I need Damien. I bypass her and rush to his office, but his assistant says he didn’t come in today. I grab another cab, and when he opens his door, I throw myself into his arms. Let’s do this, this is perfect, now we’re both ruined, there is no risk with us, we’ll be miserably happy together. I palm his chest, while he cups my face in his.
“Let’s do this.” Kiss me already, what is he waiting for? He glues our foreheads together, sighing.
“I am not a lover; I am a destroyer.”
“Shut up and kiss me.” Please, I can’t breathe, make me breathe.
“I am hers, Chloe, only hers.”
“I can live with that.” My heart will never belong to you either, and we’ll be the perfect match. We’ll keep each other afloat.
“I will live just for her.”
“What?”
He tells me everything, by the end we’re both crying.
“Damien, I am going away.”
“What?”
“I am done with London for a while.”
“This is your home, where else would you go?”
“Anywhere but here.”
“I will always be there for you.”
He lifts my chin while I force my eyes to stop crying.
“Tell me his name.”
“No. He already did enough.”
“Call me, whatever it is.”
When I am at the door he says, “Chloe, whatever we run from, it always finds us. Trust me.”
“I can’t breathe, Damien. I need to breathe.”
In the cab, I call my manager and say, “I want every job there is.”
