Taming the Bitch (COMPLETED)

Chapter LXVII - THE PEACE SIGN

Gabrielle closes her eyes tightly as she tries not to let a single tear fall from them again.

She'd had too much. She was drained—sick and broken as ever. She didn't want to end everything this way, but Vincent had truly given her no choice. She had to pull herself together. For Nic... for herself. Without him.

Now that the people behind Vincent's accident were already paying for their crimes, she no longer had a reason to bear his name... especially not now, when he was so disgusted to be sharing it with her. She had to let go. If there ever came a time when Vincent regained his memory and stood by what he once said and promised her—a perfect family, the vow he swore before the accident stole all his memories of her—then she would cross that bridge when she reached it.

But right now, she had to live. She had to look for, and after, herself. She had to fix everything he had broken, even without him... she had to stitch all the shattered pieces of her heart together with her own hands.

"I'm not here for this..." he speaks after some time, and she hears the sound of paper being signed before she feels him leaning closer to her on the bed. He then places the envelope in front of her before resting his hand on her arm.

"Leave..." she says as she puts her hand over his and pushes it away from her arm without opening her eyes.

"Never in a million years... Bella..." he whispers as he brings his hand back—this time to her head, gently caressing her soft hair.

Wait...

Did he just...

That was it.

Breathing hard, she opens her eyes and looks up at him.

Did he just call her Bella?!

"Never in a million years." He'd said that once—when she was so drunk she'd pushed him back to his slut of an ex.

Confused, she looks at the divorce papers he had just brought to her bed and realises they weren't signed—rather, they were torn.

"I can remember how much you mean to me now..." He throws her a look, her brown eyes full of questions and insecurity. His blue ones filled with sympathy and apology.

"Not all the memories have resurfaced yet... but we'll get there together. Don't do this to us..." he continues as he touches her warm cheeks, closing his eyes tightly as he remembers how much her warmth had kept him alive all these years... and what a fool he was to feel it again only now.

"I love you, Bella... I've always been in love with you—even when I couldn't remember anything. I just couldn't accept the fact that I was feeling such emotions again. And I'm so mad... so angry at myself for dragging you into a life where you had to take care of a useless tramp like me." Her tears fall as Vince sits beside her on the bed, his palms cupping her cheeks before his thumb brushes away the traces of her tears.

"I'm so sorry for putting you through all this heartache... I'm really sorry I couldn't take care of you half as much as you've taken care of me... I'm an idiot..." he chuckles as his own tears fall. Then his hand cups the back of her neck and he pulls her into his embrace, triggering her suppressed emotions to erupt from her shattered soul as she cries hard against his chest.

"God... I'm so sorry, baby..." He looks up as his own tears fall, feeling her heartbeat against his own and hearing her broken voice tear him apart.

"I hate you..." she whispers, hitting his chest, making him smile against her forehead.

"I hate you!!!" She cries louder and he does too, before feeling her arms around him as she clings to him as though she'll die if she lets go.

"I'm so sorry... I really am." He pulls her face back into his neck, allowing her to cry her heart out.