Endless Love by Bianca Borell
Chapter Twenty-Four
BRIA
I follow the sign to the ladies’ room next to the VIP area and step inside. I take everything in—the sparkling marble floors, the sophisticated wallpaper, and the chandelier adding an extra layer of glamour. The huge mirrors surround me. My ears still pound from the noise outside, but here, it doesn’t penetrate through.
I reach the round sink and bend to wash my hands when the air around me turns frigid. I raise my gaze to the mirror and stare at the one person I didn’t expect to see. She’s dressed in an elegant, long black dress, wearing a daring dark violet lipstick, eyeing me with pure disdain, chilling my insides.
Fate spares no one from feeling at least once in their lifetime an agonizing pain that alters them forever. For Monica, it must have been losing her parents, or maybe she’d always been just a terrible person. I can’t be sure, but I wish to believe the former, that the grief transformed her, and she embraced the darkness.
I never intended to hurt the people in my life, not deliberately at least, while she betrayed everyone, taking what she wants with no consideration. Perhaps Monica felt alone, even surrounded by the people who were still family, who welcomed her and treated her with care and love. Still, she chose to remain on the outside. It made it easier, surely, when plotting my downfall even though I can’t remember a single time I wasn’t there for her, holding her hand when she’d cry herself to sleep.
What should I feel toward the one person who caused my deepest pain? I don’t hate her, but I find it hard to forgive her. I shake myself from the momentary paralysis.
“Monica,” I say, and a slight headache forms behind my temples.
“I’d say it’s good seeing you, cousin, but I’d be lying.”
I turn around, dry my hands and move to pass her when she grabs my right arm, her nails piercing my skin. I hiss. Her eyes blaze with delight from the pain she inflicts on me. I pull away, but she grips tighter, so I yank her hand away. The gesture catches her unprepared, and she stumbles backwards. I will bruise, and there are tiny drops of blood from where her nails cut me.
“What have I ever done to you, for you to hate me like this? One day, your actions will be your downfall.”
“Are you threatening me?” her chest heaves, and her eyes blink without pause, almost in a maniac way filled with fury.
“Monica, believe it or not, I’m not your enemy. Don’t blame me for your own decisions and actions. There’s a consequence to every one of our choices. You’re smart enough to know it but still arrogant enough not to care.”
She points a finger in my face, dangling it and threatening, “But I’m yours, and I’ll not rest until you die.”
This one sentence plays on repeat in my head, and I sigh. She doesn’t deserve either my forgiveness or my help. It took me long enough to see.
“You can try, but you won’t succeed. Don’t be stupid. Damien is not as forgiving as me. And Alex, you met him too.”
At the sound of their names, she backs up one step but regains herself and shouts, “But I’ll finally get my revenge.”
Although I want to believe her threat is imaginary, her hatred toward me drives her, and that makes her dangerous. The discomfort and pressure heighten in my chest, followed by a wave of dizziness and fatigue. My body is well aware of the threat the stress of this meeting is causing.
“Revenge? For what exactly? Do you hear yourself? Just stop it. Whatever it is, it’s not worth it. There’s a point from where no one can return . . .”
“You arrogant bitch.”
She raises her palm to slap me, but I catch her hand mid-air, and her eyes focus on the ring shining in her face. Understanding dawns on her, and I glimpse her vulnerability. For a few seconds, she’s only a woman who hurts.
“What’s that?”
With every passing second, I succumb to physical weakness. I’m not afraid of her, but I’d never allow her to see how weak she made me.
“An engagement ring.”
“You’re marrying Damien?” she questions, dumbfounded.
“We love each other. It’s the one thing that you, or even we couldn’t change.”
She doubles over and laughs, maniacal sounds echo around us. She eyes me, like she’s looking through me, color lacking from her face, and there’s a slight tic to her shaking head. Right here before my eyes, she is the weaker one.
“One day, I’ll find you, and I will do what I should have done years ago myself. They can’t protect you. No one can. I have nothing to lose any longer. One day when you least expect it, I’ll be waiting. That will be your last day, Bria du Mont.”
She snarls my name as if it’s poison in her mouth, her threat resonating through my insides. My inner walls clench as my stress reaches a dangerous level, and I break. Before me stands the only person whose actions scarred me physically and mentally. I will have to wear the marks for my lifetime.
With strength, I have no idea my affected body can yield, I slap her. My hand stings and I turn and set my jaw.
“Never think I’m powerless. I went through hell and back. If you’re stupid enough to come after me, it will be your end, not mine. Get a life, save yourself before it’s too late.”
She caresses her cheek, and her jaw twitches as she spats, “I have no life because you took it from me. Because of you, I’m the way I am. Their last words asked why can’t I be more like you.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s not my fault.”
I glance at her once more, hoping she’ll stay away because I won’t intercede on her behalf if she tries something else. I’ve had enough. The words and my actions cost me more than I want to admit, and on shaky feet, I walk out and find a quiet corner. If Damien sees me like this, and if either he or Alex spot her here, it won’t go well. I have enough to deal with already. I’m physically exhausted and emotionally drained as I lean on the wall.
She sways out of the bathroom, a black angel of vengeance, in the opposite direction of our section, and I sigh for what feels the hundredth time in the span of a few minutes.
In and out I breathe, trying to calm my flip-flopping heart without success. I try breathing exercises and even attempt to meditate, which is a challenge in the middle of pounding music. If nothing helps, I have to tell Damien I’m not well and I need my medication. I hate it because I don’t want to reveal what happened. If he finds out, his measures will be extreme, and I doubt I’ll like them. It’s one thing to set me up and betray him, but threatening my life won’t end well for her.
For the second time tonight, I feel watched. I lift my chin, and my eyes freeze on a man, perhaps a few years older than me. His dark hair matches his black-blue eyes. I have never seen eyes this color and this penetrating. I’m fascinated, a bit frightened too. His unapologetic stare never wavers from me, as if I hold a secret to an unsolved puzzle for him.
The stranger watches me without blinking. Not even once. He’s the definition of “put-together.” I blink at his broad chest to assure myself there’s actually a beating heart inside. His full lips curve into a magnetic smile. It’s like my curiosity excites him. For him, it is a game, but I recognize the expression of his eyes too well, recklessness. He poses a threat and emanates strength, but I’m not afraid. I’m more afraid of my heart than this stranger, who looks at me with a recognition in his eyes as if he knows me.
I won’t speak first, and he cocks his head at my determination. Displayed on his sharp face is one emotion—curiosity. His lips arch into a half-smirk, and he approaches me, one firm step after the other.
“Are you all right?” he asks, his voice deep and sure. It’s more a rhetorical one as I crane my neck to stare into his eyes. Anyone looking at me would realize I am everything but right.
“Who are you? And why do I have the impression you think you know me?”
“Direct, I see.”
I arch my eyebrows, and he offers, “I am Liam. You’re perceptive, smart, and beautiful.”
It is like he’s reciting facts, his voice lacking any kind of emotion. I place my hand over my heart. It’s not getting better. I need to lie down, bring my heart under control. His facial expression changes to worry. But why would he care?
“You’re not well, Bria. Let me help you.”
My eyes ask him a hundred questions, but my energy level drops, and my knees wobble under me.
“I just want to talk to you. And right now, I’m the only one who can help you. We have someone we care about in common.”
My mind spins, but I still feel the loaded emotion when he says the last part. He has to be talking about Alex. His face contoured into outrage when I peered at him, questioning him if I’m in danger with him, eases me further.
“There’s a room, it’s quiet. I’ll give you medicine—aspirin and beta-blockers, right?” So, he knows about my condition as well. I nod, and he goes on. “It will calm your heart, and you can rest on the couch.”
He has the medicine I need, so it’s the risk I have to take. Damien will absolutely hate my decision. He’d call it stupid, I would call it curiosity.
I follow him down the hidden stairs to the basement.
