Farewell to My Undercover Ex The Fall and Rebirth of a Mafia Princess Chapter 08
I shook my head.
“No.”
“I ran your name. You’re not married.”
My eyes dropped to his ring finger. No ring now, but the tan line was still there.
“That’s right. But you are.”
“The papers are already filed.”
He’d missed the point entirely.
I stepped back and crossed my arms.
“I mean you’re a married man, Declan. And while you’re at it, tell
your wife to stay the hell away from me.”
“Claire came to see you?”
The second he said her name, his face went cold. The same lethal
mask he used to wear on the job.
“Back then, I convinced myself that I wasn’t in love with you. That I’d just gotten too lost in the role.”
His voice dropped.
“But the cover was the only fake part. What I felt for you wasn’t.”
“I’ve spent six years punishing myself. I was sure you were never coming back. Sure you’d never forgive me. So I married her because
it didn’t matter. None of it mattered without you.”
“But then I saw you again, and you said you didn’t hate me. It’s been six years, Renata. Let me prove it to you.”
It was almost laughable.
I chose my words carefully. “Do you remember that fat tabby that
used to hang around campus? I fed it all the time.”
He blinked. “Yeah, the friendly one. You were obsessed with that cat.”
I nodded. “Then one day, out of nowhere, it turned on me. Bit me deep.”
“I had to get rabies shots. Hurt like hell.”
“The next time I saw it, it came running over. Purring, rubbing
against my legs, like nothing had happened. And you told me, ‘Stop wasting food on it. Once they bite, they’ll do it again.”
Declan’s jaw tightened. He saw where this was going.
“When I think about that bite, it still hurts. But do I hate the cat?
No. It was just an animal. What’s the point of resenting something that doesn’t know any better?”
I paused.
“But I’d never let it near me again.”
The color drained from Declan’s face. He understood.
“I’m doing well, Declan. I really am. And I’d be doing even better if
you and Claire stayed out of my life.”
I turned and walked back inside.
Through the window, I could see him. He hadn’t moved.
I yanked the blinds shut, curled up on the sofa, and let the exhaustion pull me under.