DANTE'S POV
Adeline and I finally told each other 'I love you'. To say I'm the happiest man in the world right now would be an understatement. I'm ready to spend my entire life with her after I take down the organization and I have to do it quick because I don't want to waste any more time away from her.
As soon as Adrian is dead, Adeline and I won't have to pretend anymore. We'll get to be together out in the open without having to worry if our relationship is accepted by others or not. I want to breathe for her and I want to live for her. I came to the gym this morning and all I could think about is her. I try not to think about the fact that she's probably spending time with Adrian right now because I might go crazy.
I just can't wait for all this to be over.
As I'm about to walk out of the gyn, I bump into the most unexpected person in the entire world. He never works out here. In fact, I picked this exact gym because I know it's really private and not a lot of people know about it. The angry face in front of me is making me regret all my life choices right now because I have gym at home but sometimes I just need the fresh air. I should just start working out at home from now on.
Before he even says anything to me, I feel his fist connect with my jaw and the intensity of the blow sends me back a few steps. Wow.
"You dick!" Liam's angry voice resonates in the gym, drawing attention to us and if he were anyone else, I would fucking send him flying to the ground but he's Adeline's best friend and I suppose he has every reason to be mad at me right now. He thinks I broke his best friend's heart.
"I can't believe I ever trusted you with her. You're a fucking loser man! What the fuck are you even doing here? You're supposed to not be in the country according to Adeline."
"I don't think that's any of your business Liam. And if I were you, I wouldn't repeat what you just did." I grit my teeth and give him a death stare. I don't even care anymore if he's angry at me or not. I gave him a head start by letting him punch me anyways, but if he tries it again, then I'm really going to beat him up.
"How could you do that to her?" Liam asks, rage and hurt in his eyes. I guess he really cares about his friend but there's absolutely no one in the world who loves Adeline more than I do and I wish I could tell him that but Adeline specifically said she doesn't want Liam involved.
"Like I said Liam. I don't think it's any of your business." I repeat strongly.
"She's my best friend and I care about her so I think it's every bit of my business." He takes a step forward and now he's all up in my face.
"She loved you goddamit. She even got me to trust you. You walk into her life and act like you crazy over her. She even fucking moves in with you and then you just bolt. You defend her from her parents. She throws away her engagement to Adrian for YOU! And you do that to her? You know she finally accepted to marry Adrian… She says she's happy but in reality, she's just using this engagement as an excuse to cope with your absence."
His words sting like a bullet, but I don't care. I can't care because in due time, he'll find out the ruth and all of this drama he's causing will be over.
"Adeline's a big girl. I'm sure she'll be fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I don't have time for this and I have other places to be." I say walking past him.
As I reach the doors, his voice stops me in my tracks.
"Did you ever care about her? Is there even a little part of you that loved her?"
I turn towards Liam and look him dead in the eyes as I answer. "There's absolutely no one in the world who loves her more than I do." I say and not even giving him time to respond, I quickly walk out of the gym.
I probably shouldn't have said that but there was no other way I could have responded to someone asking me if I care about Adeline or not. Maybe my answer planted doubt in Liam's heart but he doesn't look like the kind of person who can go on a hunting mission so I doubt he'll spend his time investigating why he saw me in New York city when I'm not even supposed to be here.
I have to be more careful though. I have to use a different car from now on and I have to try as much as possible to handle my business from home or the next time I run into someone, it might be Adrian Wellington and God knows I want to kill that bastard.
I quickly head over to my car and drive off. Adeline's parents better thank her real hard for this because she's doing this all for them and she even has to lie to her bestfriend just so they can get a hundred million dollars for their company. If she does this and they still can't support their daughter then I'm officially giving then the award for worst parents of the century.
I'd rather have parents who are dead then have parents who treat their daughter the way they treat Adeline. I want to take her far away from here. I want to make her visit the houses I built in Egypt, Venice and Greece and then I want to make her visit every single place that she might ever want to go.
I want to marry her and start a family with her. I want her to carry my last name. Adeline Russo has a nice ring to it. I want to show her just how much I love her. The love that her parents failed to show her. The love that her ex, Dain failed to show her. The love that she deserves. She's such a bright and kind soul and she deserves all the good things in the world and I'll be sure to give it to her.