It’s the desperation ringing in her tone that gives away the fact she genuinely loves him. I narrow my eyes at her and grab my tea.
“You love him.”
“Yes, I do.” The sincerity in her answer is unmistakable.
“Perhaps I’d have loved him romantically if I didn’t realize he would never love me the way I deserve. He tried once but I’d have become one of many, but I saw how broken and completely damaged he is. I pitied every single one, blinded by the image of this gorgeous man but could not glimpse through the empty shell behind his facade, or maybe that was his appeal to them.”
Chloe pauses, raises her shoulders, and I tilt my head, the wound his past inflicted on me will never disappear completely, but will never stop me from loving him either. Plus his confession broke something in me too.
Her words drag me back. “Instead, I became something else, something he needed, a friend and a constant in his life. I was there when he fought a losing battle against his feelings for you. No woman could’ve taken your place. You ruined him for every other.” A small smile slips from her lips, and she waves her hand in the air. “I can’t love anyway . . . daddy issues and betrayal after I tried once. I guess it’s not for me.”
“It has never been my intention to ruin him. I’ve loved him to devastation. I still do.”
“Then, be there for him.”
I hiss at her how easy she takes the matter. “Become some kind of mistress for the next year?” She clasps her hand over mine, and her eyes shine with sincerity.
“We both know it’s a lie. So why won’t you?”
I peer at her through my lashes. “What if I do? What does this say about me?”
“That you love this broken and beautiful man. Why live according to a morality implemented by norms and social deeds that seem acceptable?” She twirls a strand of her hair and slumps into the seat and mumbles, “We all forget so easily that rules are also made by broken and flawed people, inclined to break them for their own desires.” Her eyes find mine. “What would make you happy? It’s your choice, if you think about it. It’s always our decision if we love, stay, forgive, leave, make, or break a man. It’s always us with the ultimate power.”
She gathers her dark green purse, a brand sharing her name, and rises. “I have to catch my flight back to London, but I leave you the key.” A key drops with a thump on the table. “I hope you use it for both of your sakes. Goodbye, Bria. Let us meet under different circumstances next time, please.” She smiles and walks away, her sweet vanilla and something flowery like a magnolia scent, lingering with her words heavy in the air.
“Thank you, Chloe.”
The loud ticking of the vintage clock synchronizes to perfection with my pounding heart.
I’ll go to him—bare and vulnerable—and I’ll love him through all the hardship we’ll encounter. The constant ringing of my phone grates on my nerves. Sophia’s discovered my absence, and she’ll continue to call me until my battery dies. I’m sure she called Alex too, but I ignore the constant ringing.
I march to my car, and because Damien isn’t the only one with stalker tendencies, I know exactly where he lives too. I might have discovered it by complete accident when I was in the area, which was also by complete accident. I stood there and imagined how my life would’ve turned out if he was still with me.
Wallowing in self-pity used to be my way of having fun. I park, my hands gripping the wheel while I nudge myself to climb out.
The thought of seeing him again plays havoc with my mind as my body trembles in anticipation, and my heart threatens to explode. My hand flies to my chest when a tap on my window jolts me from my thoughts. I shriek while Alex wears a knowing grin and my fear vanishes.
“I found you. I knew you would come to him. I didn’t think you would last this long.” I climb out of the car, rolling my eyes.
“What’re you doing here? Don’t scare me like that.”
He rubs his chin, his eyes boring into mine. “You amaze me every day with how much you love him. Even knowing what it would mean, you’d have stood there right by his side.”
I tilt my head to him and shrug. “Like you said, I can’t stop myself.”
A dark envelope peeks from under his jacket. When he notices my gaze, he pulls it out and places the envelope in my hands.
“Open and read it.”
My hands tremble as I peel it open. Tears gather in my eyes as I scan the document with Monica’s signature. It’s legitimate, and my heart frees from the chains of misery. I lift my eyes and stammer, “How? I mean this is . . .” But my words stick in my throat.
He places his hands on my shoulders. “Be happy, sweetheart, it’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
In a heartbeat, I fly into his arms, and he wraps his hands around my waist. His love for me humbles me, and my heart both leaps and squeezes in my chest. Tears roll down my face as he makes my happiness a priority.
I cup his face in mine, his stubble tickles the inside of my palm, and his eyes glisten as he realizes I love him, but I could never love him the way he wants. A sense of finality descends on us. We’ll never speak about feelings between us. From now on, we’ll go on in different paths, let someone else be our number one.
But what we share will never vanish.
Our link seals us for life.
This is our silent promise and love declaration, an atypical love in an atypical way.
“I don’t know what to say, or how to show you my gratitude for all the times you were there for me, or my love . . . just . . . I, if I—”
He places a long finger on my quivering lips and silences me. “You can’t give me what isn’t yours to give. Damien had your heart even before you knew it. Go to him and be happy, it’s okay.”
“Thank you.”
He glances at me through thick lashes before turning around and leaving me where I stand. With the key in one hand and the envelope in the other, I stride inside the building.
Whatever happens between Damien and me, there’s no going back, and our lives will change forever.
The elevator carries me to my destination. I halt at his door and smile, feeling relaxed like my whole being agrees to the rightness of my decision. This is my choice, before me lays a path I choose, love winning over, and leading me into the arms of the man I can’t live without.
I tiptoe inside and halt as the first thing shaking me isn’t that I see it as his personal playground where he lived his life promiscuously.
As my gaze lands on the wooden floor, it doesn’t retain the steps of every single one of the women that weren’t me. I’ve been afraid of his home, but as I inch inside, it reflects only one thing—Damien’s alluring, musky scent lingers in every corner enveloping me, beckoning me to come closer. His presence emanates through the entire room, and although it’s pitch black, it guides my steps toward him.
It’s the familiarity knowing here somewhere is the man I love and pulls me to venture further. The electricity of his nearness prickles at my skin in anticipation, my heart switches to an orchestra of hundreds of playing instruments of love and abandon.
I halt as I detect him. On a long, C-shaped black couch that dominates the entire living room bathed in dim outside lights, the shadow of a man so accepting of his situation, it hurts me to witness. His whole posture dares agony to take another shot at him, but he’s a far better opponent. Nothing touches him anymore in his exodus.
I slump on the barstool and place the envelope on the black glass bar in front of me. I let time put us in reversal, transfixed with every mesmerizing rise and fall of Damien’s sculpted back.
DAMIEN
I’ve lost track of time; of the hours I haven’t moved. Will she ever forgive me? My confession came late, but she deserved to hear the part I tried to bury in a remote corner of my mind.
I became deaf and blind to everything outside my capsule of grief. My battered body supports me as it has the last few days. The routine of nothing but sorrow and pain transformed
into an odd comforter.
The last time I caught my reflection in a mirror, it shook me, so I turned it around. A ghost doesn’t like his own image, it’s too painful a reminder of everything it lost, starting with its life.
By now, I would leave a dent in the couch, a constant reminder of my absolute distress, taking the form of the emptiness inside me. I need to wake up, concoct a plan to escape my predicament, but missing and hurting Bria again holds me back.
I raise my hands heavy with the absence of her. Her sweet smell lingers in the air surrounding me and torments me further. I almost grasp she’s near. What a dreamy torture. I’m sure my needy fingers would paint her by heart and on instinct, creating a devastatingly beautiful copy of the original taunting my senses.
The darkness weighs heavy on my body, and I crave a small light warming the frozen plain inside me. I switch on the lamp from the table in front of me. The dim light blinds me, and I cover my eyes. A gasp alarms me, I snap my head in the direction, and my heart hammers in my chest.
I blink and blink some more.
I must’ve reached another level of how much I can miss her if my mind conjures her image this vividly.
Her beautiful figure forms a majestic statue staring at me with tear-stained eyes, her delicate palm covering those full lips I ache to kiss. Missing her burns holes in my body. She rises to her feet and steps toward me. Time stills as I shake my head, trying to separate fantasy from reality. Bria sits next to me, and her lips curl up into a broken smile.
She caresses my frozen face, elevating a moan out of my body. Her mouth opens, and I lean toward her. It’s a shy and innocent “hi” that shifts my world. I lift my trembling hands and clasp her soft face. Touching her hypnotizes me, and a calm wave washes over me.
“It’s you, it’s really you.”
She nods, and her tears roll down her cheeks.
I rest my forehead on hers. “I thought you would leave, and years would pass until I could catch a glimpse of you again.” She strokes me, and with her touch, my entire body springs to life.
I nibble on her lips. “I’m sorry, baby, so damn sorry.”
“Shh,” she coos and gathers me in her arms. “I made you a promise, remember?” I scoop her in my arms, and she straddles me.
“I’ve forgotten nothing related to you, Bria. You flow through my mind in an endless cycle.”
She places her hand over my heart. “I wasn’t running away this time.”
I tip her chin up. “Why are you really here?”
“To take the place where I belong.”
I narrow my eyes at her, searching for any trace of doubt, but it’s pure determination shining in her hazel eyes.
“You realize what this means?” Bria’s lips quirk up into a knowing smile. My muscles weaken with the love she bestows on me that I don’t deserve. I shut my eyes. “Baby, I can’t accept it, although it destroys me. You deserve more.”
She frames my face between her soft hands, and our eyes lock. “Do you love me, Damien?”
My hand grips around her. “There’s no living and existing thing above you in my heart and mind.”
“Am I not enough then?”
“You’re everything. Without you, the hole in my chest will consume me. You’re my light, my strength. You’re my only true home, the only place I can be myself and where I have what I crave the most in the world. That’s you.”
“Shouldn’t it be my decision, then? I’ve always taken you exactly as you are, never having even the slightest intention of changing you, Damien. She interlaces our fingers together. Her head drops, and she chews on her bottom lip. “But if you want to live without me, admit it. Don’t be a coward and hide behind the charade of what’s acceptable and viewed as the right thing to do.”
I cup her neck, bend her back, and press my lips on the sweet spot under her ear. “Without you, there’s nothing. With you, there’s everything. What do you think I prefer? I love you until madness and back.” Her body pulses with my caresses. I trail kisses from her cheeks down her neck and halt on her tattoo. “I’ll take and take. It’s not a threat, it’s my fundamental truth, but I swear to you, I’ll love and give you everything you’ll ever need and desire until my final breath.” She throws her head back, and my hands dig into her hot skin. “There’s no escape, neither for you nor for me afterward.”
Bria locks her silky arms around my neck. “We never could escape us, Damien.”
“Marry me, then.”
My heart, a volcano ready to erupt in my chest. Bria blinks, and a confession bursts from within me. “This lifetime will not be enough. I want every second of every minute of every day and night to spend with you, to love you, to know you’re mine.” Her face transforms into understanding, and I exhale. “There’s never too much or a limit to what I have with you. Not even a ‘forever us’ will be enough to satisfy this deep longing inside me.”
It’s all in her hands now. I hope she keeps her promise and frees us both.
in
Endless Love: Forever Us Book 3
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When I published my first book, Shattered Love, Book One of the Forever Us Series, my wish was to add more individuals to my personal thank you list. And it happened. I’m so very grateful to have met, and I’m sure I’ll continuously meet amazing people who support me on my writing career and love my stories.
Love found me unexpectedly, unapologetically, and ever since it has always been about you and about us. Thank you, my love, supporter and best friend. Your love fills me with gratitude, hope, and endless dreams.
To my family, I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. You’re amazing, the best possible parents, and your support and encouragement fills me with the deepest of gratitude and love.
To Missy, my incredible editor! I love you, thank you so much for pouring as much love in editing this story as I did writing it.
To Linda, thank you. It’s wonderful to know you’re there for me. Your support and guidance mean everything to me.
To Laura, thank you for another beautiful cover. I’m looking forward to the next one and to our talks.
To Michele, thank you for your diligent peruse!
To all you amazing bloggers. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for mentioning my book, sharing and reviewing it. You make a difference. I appreciate you helping and supporting my fellow authors and me.
To you, lovely readers, thank you for reading Shattered Love and for accompanying me on my writing journey. Your reviews and support mean everything to me. Thank you for giving me a chance as a debut author and for joining Bria and Damien’s story. When it comes to being an author, I’d be nothing and no one without you, my readers. I send you all my love and appreciation. Thank you, and I love hearing from you!
To Barbara Gulledge, thank you for being my reader and for showing me so much support. You humble me!
I end with the same wish, for this list to grow.
With love and gratefulness,
Bianca Borell
Dear reader,
Thank you for joining me on my writing journey. It started with Shattered Love and the heart-breaking first part of Bria and Damien’s story, and continues with Healing Love.
I wish to express my gratitude to you for purchasing and reading Healing Love, part two of the trilogy, Forever Us continuing Bria and Damien’s story. I
hope you enjoyed and loved it as you did Shattered Love.
Bria and Damien’s story had me typing while tears rolled down my cheeks and with my heart breaking for them. Writing their story pulled at my heartstrings. I cried, laughed, but mostly I hurt for them. But their intense, deep, and unapologetically raw love for the other also healed me. Reading your reviews about how you felt so strongly for them too, humbles me and makes me believe I achieved my goal to awaken emotions in you, my reader, through my writing.
The story of Bria and Damien continues and ends in the third book, Endless Love. I hereby invite you to follow and be a part of their epic love journey until the end.
Live a life of love starting with yourself.
Yours sincerely,
Bianca Borell
One who has always been in love with the magic words can create on a blank sheet.
P.S. If you’ve liked this book, please tell a friend and maybe even share your thoughts about Healing Love online. I’d love it if you’d write a quick review on the vendor page from where you purchased it.
Thank you for your support.
Bianca Borell is an emerging romance author, equity advocate, and student of life on a mission to awaken emotions in the hearts of her readers through the power of the written word. From an early age, she had a deep affinity for words which quickly became her life’s purpose. Her debut novel is a contemporary romance entitled Shattered Love, which is Book 1 in the Forever Us series.
While she currently resides in Germany, Bianca considers herself to be a citizen of the world. When she doesn’t have a pen or book in hand, she’s an avid adventurer with an unquenchable wanderlust.
Healing Love: A Billionaire Romance (Forever Us Book 2) Page 25