Chapter 166 The Promise We Cannot Break
POV Sebastian:
I told Maya everything. It was the right thing to do. After she took too long to come downstairs, my brothers and I spoke honestly and confessed that we like her and want her—however, not as a woman to be shared. We would never do that to her, just as we would never make her choose. The conversation was difficult. Seeing the disappointment on my brothers’ faces, knowing we are going to lose her and there is nothing we can do to change it without making everyone suffer in the process, was hard.
There is no way out for us.
“I like her. I want that damn woman, but I won’t make a move to have her for myself,” Luca declares, and seeing my brother’s sad expression makes my stomach twist. “I already had my goodbye. For one night she was mine, and I was hers.”
“We want her too, but it isn’t fair. Our goodbye was yesterday, and that will have to be enough,” Mikhail confesses, and Adrian nods, confirming our brother’s words.
“I didn’t have a goodbye, and I don’t want one,” Dominic states. “I’d rather live in the ignorance of never knowing what it is to have her than to have her and then lose her.”
“I have never been with a woman besides the… I want to be, at least once, with the woman who made me forget the only one I ever had,” I say, and my brothers nod, understanding how important this is to me.
“Let’s make a new promise right now,” Dominic proposes.
“What promise?” Mikhail asks.
“We will never let her choose. Let’s promise we will never want to know which of us she truly wants, which of us she truly loves.”
We look at one another, and it hurts. When she said she loved us, she was drunk and doesn’t remember what she said. We do not think about that day, because we know it is impossible for her to love us equally—that does not exist. We pretend that night never happened, and with her not remembering, it makes everything easier for us.
“I promise,” Luca is the first to agree.
“I promise,” Mikhail and Adrian say together.
“I promise,” I affirm.
“I promise,” Dominic declares, sealing our new promise.
I push the memory aside and help her down the stairs. My brothers are outside waiting for us, wanting to fulfill the only dream within our reach. After we saw how she reacted when Luca mentioned the bonfire, we realized something was wrong. That is not Maya, and we did not like it. And when she told us it was one of her dreams, it was hard not to take her in our arms and keep her between us, giving her nothing but kisses and affection.
As soon as we get close enough, my brothers stand. They know she was sad and that, because of that, she probably would not come down, so I made the decision to talk to her. I do not know what this night holds—whether our choice will make her sadder, or whether it will show her that if we could, we would fulfill all her dreams.
Because yes, we would give our best to make every single one come true.
(...)
POV Maya:
They are all standing around the bonfire, smiles on their faces. They are smiling. Each of them looks at me the way I always wished my future husband would look at me, and the fucked-up part of all this is that I will never have them. Life really is a bitch. I keep holding Sebastian’s hand. His brothers see it, but their smiles toward me remain sincere.
I swallow hard, let go of Sebastian’s hand, and go to Dominic, hugging him before dawn breaks and he goes back to pretending he hates me. His big, muscular arms wrap tightly around me, and I feel like crying, but I don’t let a single tear fall.
“It’s beautiful, thank you,” I say, kissing his cheek.
I take a step to the side and throw myself into Mikhail’s and Adrian’s arms, hugging them as best I can. The knot in my throat is too big to swallow. I feel their kisses on each side of my cheek, and I know this must be just as hard for them as it is for me.
“Thank you, you really went all out.”
Over Mikhail’s shoulder, I look at Luca, who has his hands in his pockets. I know he won’t return my hug because he doesn’t show affection in public. Even so, I go to him and wrap my arms around his neck. I breathe in his scent and close my eyes. I wish there were a way for us to stay together. I wish I knew how to say the right thing to make them believe I would never make them suffer.
If there were anything I could do to make them know how much I… love them. Yes, if there were anything I could do to prove my love, maybe they would believe we could be happy together.
“Thank you.”
“Not for that, you bastard.”
I pull my body away from his, and the same forced smile I’ve worn so many times is now stamped on his face. I’m pulled from that realization when I hear Louis barking. I turn to him and smile, seeing him wearing a shirt in the style cowboys wear.
“I can’t believe this, Louis Vuitton George,” I say, picking him up. “Almost a Moretti,” I joke, and he barks, wagging his tail. “Where did you get it?”
“We made it for him. It looks good, doesn’t it?” Sebastian says, and my heart tightens even more.
“It’s perfect.”
We fall into a strange silence, because I’m not usually quiet. I’m always the one who has something to say, but I can’t pretend this night isn’t affecting me. I sit on the log and sigh, looking at everything they prepared—the big, warm bonfire, the bags of marshmallows. My eyes linger on them, not imagining what I’ll feel when I taste the first one.
“Ready to start hearing the horror stories?” Adrian asks excitedly, and my eyes widen.
“They’re not too scary, are they?” I ask, looking from one to the other in fear, and they laugh at me.
“Nothing’s going to happen. We’re here. We’ll protect you. You’re not alone—you have us,” Dominic says, and my foolish heart is struck by yet another sentence I dreamed of hearing.
By the end of the night, I hope my heart is still whole.