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Hey everyone! Apologies for the long wait for an update! I've been very busy with a promotion at work (yay me :), its been a Bank Holiday in the UK so that got a bit messy (I hope there is no evidence lol) so i've generally been a bit out of it! As a condolence, i'll update another chapter later today!
Charli xx
- RECAP - Antonio and Liana have parted ways over a deliberate misunderstanding about the nature of their relationship and Olivia has admittedly she is still in love with her husband.
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Antonio looked down at his wife and had no clue what he should say.
Olivia was looking at him so ashamed, her face reddening with her embarrassment that he knew he had to say something that wouldn't shatter her spirit.
He could see that amidst the embarrassment there was also an expectancy of sorts. It wasn't what she wanted him to say, but what she needed him to say,
"Why now?"
He knew it wasn't the right thing but it was all he could think of; why did she feel this way now when she had spent countless years pushing him away?
She didn't respond and for some reason it infuriated him,
"Why now Olivia? Why, after all this time do you want to be close to me?"
"You're my husband, shouldn't I want that?"
"No," he snapped her. "You don't get to be sarcastic and rude to me right now. Answer me properly!"
Olivia looked away from him then, clearly realising that her ruse was up and he wasn't going to take any of her shit right now.
"I've never stopped wanting to be close to you Antonio," she whispered. "I've never stopped loving you."
She looked back at him and Antonio saw the tears begin to fall down her face.
Why was she doing this to him now!
"I knew I was being a bitch and I couldn't stop myself. I was so angry at the accident and I knew I had no one to blame for it but myself."
"You told me not to go out that day, you told me not to ride and I went any way. I ruined me, I ruined our marriage and so I pushed you away because I hated myself for letting you down!"
She burst into a barrage of tears then making Antonio rush over to her and lift her into his arms to hug her.
It felt weird, touching her again after so long and he couldn't deny that she felt different. Smaller; frailer then he last remembered.
He let go of her briefly to sit her up in the bed as best he could, leaning slightly against him.
"I'm so sorry Antonio,"
"Ssshh,"
"I knew I'd been terrible to you but by the time I really wanted to apologise I knew I had pushed you too far and that you didn't love me anymore."
"What?"
Antonio had to look into her eyes at that moment to see if she was serious,
"Why would you think I didn't love you anymore Olivia?"
"How could you?" she said defeatedly. "After all the things I'd said and done...how could you still be in love with that?"
Antonio was stunned and if he was honest, a little angry.
"Why didn't you say something to me before Olivia! Why push me away?"
"It was...easier." Olivia knew it was a pitiful excuse by the way she said it but it was all she had.
"Olivia..." he knew what she needed to hear but so much had changed before her little revelation.
Yes, he did still love her but what was it the same love he'd felt when he'd first met her; when they first got married.
No, and that had nothing to do with Liana either. He had fallen out of love with Olivia a long time ago but it didn't mean he didn't care about and love her very deeply.
It was that love that had kept him faithful for ten years.
It was that love that kept him true to his vows to love her in sickness and in health and why he could never leave her to life this alone.
Antonio believed in that wholeheartedly despite his newfound feelings for Liana Vargas.
"Olivia," he said again. "You're my wife...that will never change."
It was all he could think to say but at least it was the truth. He held her a little tighter, her face on his chest,
"I can feel my heart," she said softly and Antonio's breath caught in his throat.
It was what they used to say to each other when they first fell in love; that she could feel her heart when what she could feel was his beating. He would then return the sentiment, meaning their hearts belonged to one each other.
"I can feel my heart too," he said and the contented sigh that escaped her was his undoing.
Olivia had been afraid he wouldn't say it back and in so doing he had basically told her, that he was still in love with her too.
YOU ARE READING
If Loving You is Wrong
Romance*** Vargas Heirs: Book 2*** While on vacation from Harvard University, Liana Vargas meets the man of her dreams and loses herself in a whirlwind affair of passion, temptation and danger. When she returns home and her dream man turns out to be her wo...