King of the Empire ✓| #2 |

19 - Broken promise

"And I get that!" Alex shouted at Egon. "But what I'm trying to say is that we have bigger fucking problems right now. We have multiple secrets unfolding as we speak and, I'm sorry if I'm just trying to put him in the right mindset to face the changes," he tried explaining. I barely even listened as my mind began to zone out to somewhere much calmer than this.

"But telling him to relax when he clearly doesn't want to isn't the right thing to do," I stood up and started pacing around the balcony as I cleared my head.

"My interests are to see him happy and if getting him to sleep with someone who looks like her will do the job, I'm all for it," I stopped in my tracks before averting my eyes to the guy I thought of as my best friend. Egon's mouth had opened as he was too stunned by Alex's words. He looked at me. "As much as I am sorry, everyone who was even closer to her than you were, began to move on. You haven't." I raised my brows as I listened to him.

"Alex, stop it," Egon warned before pinching the bridge of his nose. Alex shook his head before continuing.

"I get it, it hurts. You're grieving. But you need to move on. And this hallucination shit is getting out of hand, Liam," I took the piece of black paper out of my pocket and held it between my fingers.

"I'm not hallucinating, Alex." I raised the paper higher. "This is the reason I almost lost my goddamn mind."

"She's dead!" He shouted at me. "Don't you get that? She won't come back to life and neither will you if you don't move on and start a new chapter." I clenched my jaw as his words pierced my heart. I knew it had to be true but reminding someone who had lost their loved one over and over that they're dead without realising how hard it is to hear those words, hurt them.

"You do realise that the reason I'm still alive is that small piece of hope that she's okay, right." I crumpled the paper in my hand as I stared at him. "This goddamn piece of paper is the reason I want to live another day." I threw the paper at him, catching him by surprise. "Fuck you, you piece of shit," I walked out of the balcony and just as I was about to enter the bedroom, I heard Margo's voice.

"L'ha detto lei stessa." [She said it herself.] I stood right by the corner of the living room with my bedroom door right behind me.

"Ma ha il diritto di sapere. Soprattutto adesso." [But he had a right to know. Especially now.] I frowned. It was very wrong of me to listen to their conversation. But I had a feeling that Cel had something to do with it.

"Ci ha detto di tenerglielo nascosto. Inoltre, ora è inutile." [She told us to keep it from him. Besides, it's pointless now.] Keep something from me? Celeste was keeping something from me?

"Dovrebbe almeno saperlo. Non importa quanto l'avrebbe odiato adesso." [He should at least know about it. No matter how much he'd hate it now.]

"Gli do più dolore." [I can't give him more pain.] I was so lost in what she was saying that I actually thought they had something to do with the note I had received. But judging from Margo's reaction, the note wasn't something she'd written.

"Era un pezzo di lui." [It was a piece of him.] My entire body stilled. "Even if she's dead he should know what had happened." It felt as if the air was toxic enough to choke me. I leaned my back against the wall as Margo whispered to Laura.

"She told us both she didn't want to tell him about the damn pregnancy." I hoped they were talking about something other than my Cel.

She was pregnant.

"And it would be wrong to break my promise to her," she whispered as my entire body ached. I ran my hand through my hair as I struggled to breathe.

"It just feels wrong now," Laura said. "I get that she was scared for his reaction maybe slightly more than her family's but I think he should at least know about it after she passed."