Toxicity |18+|

Chapter thirty eight : Reunited.

Dante.

I don't make a lot of friends and, over the years I've lost a lot of them. Especially when my bad reputation started to form. The people who I thought were the closest to me, left me, and judged me as if they wouldn't take a bullet for me days before they heard rumors. And yes, most of the rumors were true but, they didn't have the right to judge. They knew what our family was known for but as soon as they could actually be associated with the bad stuff they ran, like cowards.

There was one person who didn't. Vanessa. She was Leah's best friend. even when Leah was alive we talked often. We didn't really like it because she thought we were dating however we've never seen each other like that. After Leah died Vanessa and I became really close. The first few months we only talked about Leah but over time we've talked about other things that are important to us.

She stayed with as long as she could, at least until she had to move to Australia for her career. Of course, I cared, but I supported her every move, just like she did with me. We've been through a lot with each other. I was so happy when I heard she got engaged. Gabriel is a good man, I've done business with him once. What can I say? I have business everywhere. Vanessa was thrilled to find out about Maya and wanted to meet her immediately.

I didn't tell Maya about Vanessa yet, that was wrong of me to not do. I hadn't spoken to Vanessa in a long time because we were both so busy and I didn't want to just tell her like that, I wanted them to meet each other at Vanessa's wedding. But now, it might take a while for them to meet.

"How have you been, mate?" She smiles. She has taken over the Australian accent completely making me chuckle.

"Not so good," I respond and think back about Maya. I love her so much, and I wish I could tell her. I would tell her over and over. Make sure she'd have the words on repeat in her head and couldn't escape them even if she wanted to. She is my oxygen. I feel like I can't breathe without her. from the moment we met, I knew that she was going to change my life one way or the other. I had such different intentions with Maye but I fell in love with her. I became soft for her, or softer at least. At first, I was scared that people were going to be less scared of me and less intimidated but I never lost myself, and I thought by being soft that I did.

"Let's get inside..." I tell Vanessa. "Hailey, could you pick up our food? I ordered Mexican food."

Hailey nods and we all walk inside—I and Vanessa into the kitchen and Hailey out the door to pick up our food.

We both sit down at the kitchen island, across from each other. She leans her elbow on the island at rests her head on her hand, while she waits for me to say something.

"I have told you about Maya..." I sigh and she nods. "She recently got into a coma," Vanessa gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. She looks completely lost for words. She just looks at me, processing whatever she just heard.

"What happened?" She asks me.

"I was driving. She told me to slow down and I..." I clench my jaw. "I didn't. I kept speeding and we crashed. A truck hit us, on her side," I explain to her and I hear her mumble.

"Oh no..." Her voice trembles and she puts her hand over her heart. From the moment that I told Vanessa about Maya, she loved her. I didn't tell much about her because, as I said; I haven't spoken to her in a long time.

"I'm starting to give up, Vanessa..." I sigh. "It's been two months and visiting her just makes me feel miserable. I love her, I want to marry her, I want to celebrate this pregnancy..."

"She's pregnant?!" She shouts surprised. Of course, she doesn't know.

"I didn't want to tell you until you met. I haven't told her about you yet," I tell her. She looks at me pissed.