Bellissimo Rilascio (Beautiful Release): The Family Series #3 Read Online Free

guilty for, she didn’t cause this, and it’s time for me to face the consequences of my actions. I should have faced them years ago, but I thought I could make it better. I didn’t. I made it worse.” I lean back against the wall needing help supporting myself. I can’t imagine a life without her. “She is going to need you. She’ll try to distance herself; act strong, but you know her better than anyone. Take your blinders off, take your loyalty to me out of the equation, and see what she is going through. Hate me if you have to, just don’t let her slip through the cracks.”
     
    “Damn it, Dakota. Why’d you have to do this? I’m so fucking pissed at you, at her, at the situation. You put us all in a bad situation, and maybe I’m to blame for thinking she could get over it.”
     
    “Could you get over it if it was Callie? I know you felt betrayed by her, but what I did . . . that was a slap in the face to what we shared. I broke down every wall she had, I became her best friend, and I abused that. I don’t know how to reach her, and that is a testament to how tall her walls are. She’s closed every part of her off, and it’s slowly killing her. Fight with her. Fight for her. Don’t give up.”
     
    “I promise.” He grabs me and gives me a hug. “Will I see you before you leave?”
     
    “Probably not. I don’t know if I can get a transfer, but either way, I’m going to make myself scarce. I need to put myself back together. I have to find a way to move forward without her. All this time I never let myself believe we were over. I have to comprehend that now. Let the dream go.”
     
    “You going to be okay?”
     
    “Time will tell.”
     
    “Watch your back. Don’t do anything stupid.”
     
    “I think my quota for stupidity has been met for this lifetime.”
     
    “I’ll keep you updated.” I take a deep breath and turn from my best friend, leaving my heart and life here with him.
     
    I don’t remember crying when we buried Dana, though I’m sure I did. I try to remember the pain I felt that day, but it must pale in comparison because all I can focus on is the gripping agony I feel at this moment. In this moment, every other memory is non-existent. It’s embracing every facet of my body, running through me, overtaking me. I fight to find strength to leave. I pause outside her room, knowing in my mind it will make things worse, my heart arguing with reason. It’d be so easy to slip in and beg her for another chance, leave knowing I gave it all I had. I step closer, peer inside through the glass and stop.
     
    Nothing.
     
    Nothing could have prepared me for this. Her face pale, her eyes closed.
     
    Hollow.
     
    She looks empty. Unkempt. A portrait I thought I’d never see of her. This is the ugly reality. I did this.
     
    Stepping back, I trip over my feet, fleeing from this veracity. I wasn’t prepared for the outcome. She went from deity to dust because of my callousness. I went from saint to sinner in one moment.
     
    I let her go in the middle of a hospital while running from what I dreamed was my future. She begged me last night, told me she was releasing me from the guilt, the pain I inflicted time and time again. In doing so, she absorbed it all, and it ruined her.
     
    I ruined her. That girl in the bed, she is a shell of who she was. I’m not the man I dreamed I was, the one I claimed to be.
     
    I’m a sham.
     
    A farce.
     
    Imposter.
     
    I strived to be the best for her, and in turn I was the worst.

Chapter Four
    Bianca
     
     
    I’m exhausted. They all talk about me like I’m not lying in this bed. I hear all the words being thrown around; suicide watch, catatonic, shock, but the most untrue . . . avoidance. Reality hit me in the face and continued smacking me until I couldn’t take it. I was not avoiding. Suicide wasn’t running through my mind. It wasn’t a thought, at all. I didn’t want to harm myself, but feeling the physical pain I exacted on myself