Chapter 120 - 122
Botan POV
It’s a long and tense way up. A ride that takes moments that builds the bridge over to a lifetime. Akio’s eyes dart to the gun in my head pointedly and I tuck it back, tugging my shirt over it. When the elevator dings open, I gesture to the interior invitingly, imploring her to go on her own. She doesn’t. She just stands there, quivering fingers rubbing hard on the old scar carved into her palm. Her breaths are so jagged, every exhale kicks loose strands from her face and it kills me.
I would rather take a thousand blades than be the one to elicit such fear in her.
Akio makes a gesture, and she latches onto his forearm. It feels like a burn on my skin where her touch should be—a phantom heat searing my skin, while she finds solace in him instead. Akio sends me an apologetic look, and he leads her out of the elevator. I follow from behind, folding my arms behind my back to keep from shattering his.
Black granite floors pave the way to the main living room with glass walls swallowing the skyline. Vaulted ceilings that cradle the opulent expanse. Akio places her by the fireplace that casts golden whispers against sleek leather and velvet drapery.
She can’t use him as a buffer forever.
To make that point, I say in English, "Akio, will you give us a moment?"
He snaps his head and disappears down the hallway.
I wait and wait, but she remains with her back turned to me.
"Will you at least look at me?" I try to demand, but it comes out so beseechingly, almost as desperate as the night I lost her, groveling on the ground for her to not leave me—to forgive me.
"Did you mean to kill Vance and Landen?"
Irritation gnaws at my grief. "No, I meant to kill all three of them," I say, brutally blunt. I reaped the consequence of concealing things from her and I will not repeat my mistake. "But Colton had a last-minute meeting that came up and—"