PART 5 CHAPTER 192
LUKE
–
“Fuck.” I spat as 1 pushed past Francesca. I was a fucking idiot for just standing there. What the hell was wrong with me? I took the stairs two at a time, my heart racing with desperation. I needed to catch her. Needed to see her one last time before it was too late. The image of Jessica in that blue dress was burned into my mind.
As I reached the lobby, I spotted her just as she stepped out of the elevator. She looked so small. “Jessica!” I said her name softly at first, but she heard me and took a step closer. She froze, refusing to turn around.
It felt like the ground had fallen away beneath me. I could hardly breathe.
Without thinking, I extended my arm and pulled her to me, feeling the warmth of her body press against mine. My instincts overpowered everything else in that moment
my need to hold her and feel that she
was real, not just a fleeting memory. “Jess,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I missed you.”
Her scent enveloped me. I had spent nights dreaming of this moment, and yet now, with her so close, I felt desperate. How could I let her go?
A strangled silence hung between us, weighed down by unspoken truths. I searched her face for some flicker of hope, but the shadows seemed to deepen in her eyes. “I get it…” she finally said, breaking the spell that encased us. My heart dropped as she continued, her voice sounding distant, like someone speaking from the edge of a great divide. “I’m not angry. I understand… I just…”
What could I say to make this better? To convince her to stay? No words
PART 5–CHAPTER 192
11
came as she took a deep breath, gently peeling my arm away from her waist.
“I love you, Luke. So, I’m walking away
away — it’s my decision not yours.”
She was letting me off the hook…
–
Each word felt like a punch in the gut. I stood there, paralyzed, as she took a step forward, and then another, until she was outside of my building, staring up at the sky.
I felt the air rush from my lungs as I watched her walk away, the distance stretching between us. Jessica, the woman I loved, was stepping out of my life for good, giving me a chance at family–to be a good father, to right a
Wrong.
My heart ached at the sight of her retreating figure, her shoulders drawn tight, the sadness trailing behind her like a ghost. I could have chased after her and begged her to stay, but the reality of the situation wrapped around me like a vice. I was the one who had put her through this, the one who had hurt her with my choices.
At that moment, I felt utterly powerless, watching her disappear down the street. I was losing the girl who made me feel alive, the girl who had breathed color into my mundane fucking existence. I must be more fucked up than I thought.
I walked back into the apartment, the door closing behind me with a soft click that felt impossibly final. The silence in the space was heavy, almost suffocating. Francesca stood there, arms folded, a scowl etched across her face as if she’d been waiting for this moment, her eyes blazing with accusation.
“What the hell was that Luke?” she demanded, her voice sharp enough to cut through the thick air. But I didn’t have the strength to respond. I felt hollow, my heart still aching from watching Jessica walk away. All the
PART 5–CHAPTER 192
words I wished I could have said to her danced on the tip of my tongue, but nothing came out.
Francesca stepped in front of me, blocking my path, her expression fierce. and unyielding. “If I ever see her again, I will take your baby, and you will never see your child,” she spat, her words laced with venom.
I looked up at her, meeting her gaze head–on, but inside I felt small like I was being crushed under the weight of my own choices. The thought of losing Jessica had already devastated me, and the threat of losing a child I hadn’t even met felt like a nuclear bomb exploding in my gut. “I won’t see her again. Ever.” I finally managed, the words tasting bitter as they left my mouth.
Francesca’s expression didn’t soften. I looked past her, needing to find some semblance of normality, a distraction from the chaos swirling in my mind. I walked toward my bag, grabbing it and shoving things inside, every movement a reminder of my fractured reality.
As I passed by Francesca, the silence hung thick. I could feel her eyes on me. She wanted a confrontation, but I wouldn’t give it to her. This was it, my life now… without her.
