Chapter 79

Chapter 79
“Is that it?” I was already back on the first floor, escorted by Arlo himself.
I felt nothing when I watched how they tortured Kiera and Ben, and it scared me that I might feel the same once I put Liam back to his place.
They say revenge wouldn’t fix anything. I have seen it in movies, books. Heard it from old people who claim to have lived their lives.
Maybe they are right, maybe it won’t fix anything.
Maybe at the end of it all, I won’t feel anything after I humiliated my ex-husband, strip him from the things he loves and let him get a taste of his own medicine.
Seeing how I felt hollow after seeing my own family pay for what they did to me, I might feel the same when it comes to Liam.
But I just smiled, tightened my grip on Arlo’s hand, leading me across dark hallways.
Because I don’t fucking care if I feel empty after all this.
Liam deserves destruction for what he did to me.
If people followed what they see in movies, chose to be the bigger person and forgive, if they were always kind and forgiving to those who are cruel and unjust, then the wicked people would get away with anything they do. They would never feel any remorse, they would never change, they would grow worse knowing that they would be forgiven.
I would love nothing more than to face the man who had stolen years of my life and ruined my name, and watch him grovel at my feet.
The sound of the door closing behind us interrupted my train of thoughts.
We were back inside our bedroom, but this time, Arlo led me out onto the balcony.
The moment fresh air hit my face, I was brought back to reality and my knees immediately weakened.
If Arlo had not been beside me, if his arms weren’t always programmed to catch me whenever my body decides to betray me — I would have collapsed on the floor.
But he caught me. Always.
My hands clutched his pristine shirt, wrinkling the expensive fabric and buried my face against his chest. Inhaling his familiar scent — sharp and clean — cleared my senses.
Despite the revelation tonight, I still couldn’t remember that mountain, the villa, Arlo.
“I…” I croaked. “I’m sorry,” my voice was raw, broken.
Arlo must have been extremely lonely.
To watch me, the girl he liked, marry someone else.
“I forgot you,” I whispered, my voice trembled, “I forgot you, everything about you.”
It crushed me more once the words left my lips because it was not just the memory I lost, but the time, connection and something that was real.
“I’m so sorry,” I repeated again and again, each word trembling uncontrollably. 
“Kerri.”
My apologies stopped once I heard his deep voice.
A soft gasp escapes me when his hand came up to cradle the back of my head, gently pressing me closer to him.
“I have you now, that is all that matters.”
But I shook my head.
Arlo watched me from a distance and waited. Wanting something he was not allowed to have yet.
“You waited… you knew me before and I… I forgot us and married the most idiotic man ever.”
“I’m hoping you weren’t talking about me, darling.”
What he said made me laugh, loosen my tensed shoulder and lightly smack his arm.
“No, of course not. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me. You should know that.” 
His hand moved from my hair to my cheek, caressing it gently.
“Forgetting ‘us’ is not your fault,” he reassured me, his voice dropping lower than it already was, signifying that he was telling the truth, and that he meant it.
It helped me, because it feels like it was my fault.
“It isn’t,” he repeated even though I was not saying anything.
I smiled, embraced his torso and allowed myself to lean towards his touch.
As long as Arlo thinks that way, then nothing else matters.
It isn’t my fault I was born into an abusive family.
“Gosh, you really do love me, huh?” I joked, because even after everything, he was still understanding towards me.
Silence fell between us again, not the suffocating type but the peaceful one.
His hand remained on my cheek, his thumb circling the space beneath my eye, so warm that my breathing eventually steadied.
I didn’t know what came over me, but I instinctively moved closer, kissing him.
It wasn’t desperate or rough, it was just a slow kiss and as soon as our lips collided, all the pain in my chest, the noise that bothered my mind and the chaos of everything quieted down instantaneously.
At that very moment, it was only me and him.
Only this.
Only us.
When we finally pulled away from each other to breath, his forehead rested against mine.
“Arlo…” I murmured, finally feeling exhaustion catch up with me. “I’m tired,”
“I know.”
His arms shifted around me, stronger now, more secure and a second later he had already lifted me up before I could even protest.
“I can walk,” I said, my arms snaking around his neck, fingers interlocking on his nape.
“And I can carry you,” he answered with a small smile. “Allow me to treat you like this, darling.”
“Rest,” he murmured against my head.
And I listened. 
I allowed myself to rest, letting my head fall against his shoulder and my body sink into him.
His footsteps were careful as he carried me back inside the room. Even when sleep was already pulling me away, I know how careful he was while carrying me, like I was something precious, so precious.
That I was someone worth protecting.
The next thing I knew was the soft fabric embracing me.
I didn’t realize that he had already laid me down by how carefully he carried me, but I felt how he adjusted the pillows beneath my head, how he tucked the blanket over me, making sure I was warm and comfortable.
My eyes were too heavy from exhaustion, but I was aware of Arlo.
Of everything he was doing, a faint touch against my forehead, a kiss, so light and kind.
This time I wasn’t in that moldy bedroom, I wasn’t sleeping on the floor, I wasn’t with people who gave me nothing but misery.
This time, I am with Arlo.