Page 32 of Taking His Heart

“Where are you going?” I turn back around and watch him walk into his closet.

“Why? You want to come?”

“Depends on where you’re going. Actually, it doesn’t matter. I need to get out of this house. I need to get away from everyone,” I tell him.

“You running again, Dani?” CJ asks, and I cringe.

It’s what I do. I run away from everything I want to run towards because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the safe thing to do.

“I’m not running. I’m taking a break from my family,” I correct him.

CJ comes out of his closet wearing dress pants and a black button-down. He has a jacket thrown over his arm and shoes in one hand. “Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Why are you taking a break from your family?”

“Because they found something out and now they won’t give me two minutes of peace,” I groan and lean my back against the wall.

CJ stares at me as he sits on the end of his bed and puts his shoes on. God only knows what he’s looking for. “What they find out, Dani?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Fine. Have fun being stuck in this house.” He stands, walking right past me before he opens his bedroom door and continues through it.

“Wait, seriously? You’re just going to leave me here?” I run out after him.

He stops at the top of the stairs and turns to me. “I told you I was done with this. I’m done with letting you fuck with my head. You want to keep shit from me? Fine, that’s your choice. But I have the choice to say I’m done.”

I blink, doing my best not to cry. I will not cry. “You’re right. And you should be done. I don’t deserve you, CJ. I know that. This is all my fault. I fucked up. I never should have gotten involved with you. Because even back then, I knew we would never have a future. But I did anyway and now I’ve messed everything up.”

“Whatever reason has you choosing to be some kind of martyr, I don’t care. Either figure your shit out, tell me what the fuck the problem is, or leave me alone.” With that, he walks down the stairs.

The bang of the front door closing has me flinching.

“That went well.” My sister’s voice comes from behind me.

“Why are you snooping again?” I scowl at her.

“Wanted to see what your reaction was when you realized what papers Mr. Bianchi gave CJ,” she says. “But obviously he wasn’t too happy about them.”

“He didn’t look at the papers,” I tell her. “And you really shouldn’t have either.”

“You should know what they are, Dani,” Rosie insists.

“I don’t care, Rosie. Like I said, it’s none of my business.” I go to walk past her.

“Except it is, because it’s about you. They’re prenup documents. Preparing for the wedding of Daniella De Bellis and Carlo Bianchi Junior.”

I stop in my tracks. “What?”

“There’s more. The paperwork was written up by Alistair,” she says. “Which means Dad had something to do with it.”

Alistair is the husband of one of my mum’s best friends, Dani, also my namesake.

“What? No, Dad would not arrange a marriage for us, Rosie.”

“Maybe not me. But you? Sure, he would.” She laughs. “I mean, at least it’s CJ. He’s hot and, well, you could do worse.”