God of Mischief (Light of Obsession #2)

Chapter 21

Yuto

Theo was waiting for me in the alley behind the café. The moment I saw him, leaning casually against the brick wall with his ever-present smirk, my jaw clenched. He was always there when I least needed him, like a bad habit I couldn't quite quit.

"You're late," he said, his tone infuriatingly nonchalant. "Got held up playing house with your girlfriend?"

"Shut up," I snapped, striding past him. "I don't have time for this."

But Theo wasn't one to let things slide. He pushed off the wall, falling into step beside me. "See, that's where you're wrong. You don't have time not to deal with this. You think you can keep juggling two lives forever? Newsflash, Yuto—you can't."

I stopped abruptly, rounding on him. "I'm handling it."

He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Really? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're one slip-up away from losing everything. You've got Amelie wrapped up in this mess, and for what? A few stolen moments of domestic bliss?"

"That's none of your business," I growled.

"It is my business," Theo shot back, his tone sharpening. "Because when you screw up—and you will—it's not just your life on the line. It's all of ours. You think the people we're dealing with will just let her walk away unscathed?"

The image of Amelie caught in the crossfire—a look of betrayal on her face as she realized what I'd hidden from her—flashed through my mind, and it made me sick. But I couldn't let Theo see that.

"I told you, I'm handling it," I said through gritted teeth.

Theo snorted, crossing his arms. "Yeah, sure. By lying to her? By pretending everything's fine while the walls are closing in? You're not protecting her, Yuto. You're just delaying the inevitable."

His words hit too close to home, but I refused to back down. "What do you want me to do, Theo? Tell her the truth? Let her get dragged into this nightmare?"

"Yes," he said bluntly. "Because at least then she'd know what she's dealing with. At least then, she'd have a chance."

I stared at him, disbelief and anger warring inside me. "A chance? You think telling her would give her a chance? It would ruin her."

"No," Theo said, his voice dropping to a dangerous calm. "What's going to ruin her is finding out the hard way—when it's too late for her to do anything about it."

I wanted to punch him. To wipe that infuriatingly smug look off his face. But the worst part was knowing he wasn't entirely wrong.

"I can't," I said finally, the fight draining out of me. "She's better off not knowing."

Theo's expression softened, just a fraction. "You love her," he said, not as a question, but a statement of fact.

I didn't respond.

He sighed, shaking his head. "Then you'd better figure out what's more important—her love for you, or her life. Because you can't have both."

Before I could respond, he turned and walked away, leaving me alone with the weight of his words.

Some things might go down next chapter 👀👀👀 just sayingggg
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