Vengeful Matrimony | ✔️

Chapter 61

NICHOLAS

Raquel had disappeared inside Giselle's room over five minutes ago, and I itched to know what they were talking about. I was the only one in the waiting room. Everyone else had left more than an hour ago, but I couldn't bring myself to leave her here.

I finally gave in to my urge when I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I walked over to the door, peeking in through the glass.

"...what do they sound like?" Raquel asked, her voice lilt with her soft French accent.

"Everything I've heard them say to me in my life," Giselle replied. Hearing her voice for the first time in over thirty-six hours was like a punch to the gut. "Trust me, I'm not going crazy. It's like my brain took all the bad words they said to me and stored them somewhere, and now, it won't stop playing in my head on repeat. Maybe my brain finally decided it could no longer bottle them up."

"And now the words are tormenting you?"

"They were all I could hear when I locked myself in that bathroom. The last thing I heard was that Nicholas wasn't mine."

"Is that why you don't want to see him?"

Giselle smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Lucia wasn't wrong, though. He was madly in love with Gianna. She's all these things I'm not. He could never settle for me."

Settle? She thought I'd be fucking settling for her? I was the one who didn't deserve her. No one did. She was too kind for this world.

"Even though we've kind of settled for a routine, I'm afraid the other shoe will drop someday, and he'll realize it was just lust and he never wanted me from the start. He's already in too deep, as it is. What I feel for him is more than what fuck-buddies should.

"I'm falling for him, Raquel. I don't even want to leave him anymore. What do I do if he leaves me? I don't think I'd be able to survive that heartbreak. Everything is just messed up. I know I shouldn't give one person that much power over me, but I can't help it. I have to pull away before I fall harder and deeper for him."

Like fuck, I was going to let that happen. The moment she let me touch her again, I was going to correct all these silly notions. She was mine, and I'd be damned if she left me just to end up with some stupid fuck.

Was the life I lived the safest? Fuck, no.

Was I being selfish for possibly endangering her life by keeping her? Probably.

There was nowhere on earth that was truly safe. I was going to keep her and spend the rest of my life showing her how much everything in my life paled in comparison to her.

"How are you sure he doesn't feel the same? You don't do all the things you said he does for someone you don't care about. He's been outside for hours, hoping that you'd ask to see him. Maybe he loves you. You have a good thing going with him. Don't let Lucia spoil it. Talk to Nicholas about your feelings."

She sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. "Okay. Not just tonight."

"That's fine. Let's talk about something else, yes?"

"Mhm. Tell me about your millionaire friend that took you to the Bahamas, was it?"

"Well, he..."

I took that as my cue to leave, returning to my seat. Over twenty minutes passed before Raquel walked out of the room. She looked dead on her feet.

"She said to tell you to go home and get some sleep."

I shook my head. "I'll be fine here."

Raquel chuckled. "She did say it would be hard to get you to listen. Thank you for being there for her. I know things didn't start well between you two, but it's clear that has changed. You won't leave her now that she needs you the most, right?"