Chapter 56: : Chapter 56

I stare at the notifications on my phone, alerting me to a new painting from The Muse. My fingers instinctively graze the silver pendant around my neck, and my heart begins to thunder when I recognize the location.

I’m on autopilot as I get into my car and drive to the last place I took Serenity before we began to fall apart. All the while, my chest aches with longing for her. She hasn’t replied to any of my text messages, nor is she taking my calls. She’s distancing herself, and I don’t know how to let her go.

I sigh when I notice how busy this usually deserted place is, people swarming one of the walls. I’m numb as I push through them, only to freeze at the sight of the painting that confirms all of my suspicions. My lungs struggle to fill with air as I stare at my sweet girl’s fears and pain on display for the whole world to see.

All around me, people discuss the significance of the painting, but I don’t need to guess. It’s me and her, our hands entwined even as a red thread of fate connects me to Tyra. She’s holding on with all her might, but I’m longingly looking back at Tyra, at my past. It takes me a moment to realize that the red thread is frayed, and Serenity is holding a pair of scissors behind her back, nearly entirely out of view.

I’d been wondering what she’d been thinking before she called things off, and part of me felt like she did it, in part, because of Theo. I thought she’d taken Tyra’s return as an opportunity to end things with me so she could explore her feelings for Theo.

I was wrong.

She left because she wanted to set me free, so I could be with the person she thinks I’m destined to be with. I have no doubt her love for Tyra was one of the reasons she left, but maybe I was wrong to say she loves Tyra more than she loves me. I was missing a crucial part of the puzzle and let my own fears fill in the blanks when I should’ve tried harder to understand her. She’s just trying to do the right thing—when neither of us knows what’s right or wrong anymore.

My heart squeezes painfully as I analyze every little detail, every expression she painted, every color she chose. She left because she didn’t think I’d choose her in the end, and I failed her if I didn’t instill enough faith in our relationship. I failed her by not changing my phone or door code, by asking her to paint The Ballerina, and then again by standing back as Theo asked her out, making her feel like I didn’t care. I failed her, and I lost her.

My mind is whirling as I drive home, my fingers caressing the charm around my neck as I replay every conversation in my head, wondering if I could’ve made her stay. If she had stayed, would our circumstances have torn us apart? Her heart broke each time Tyra reached for me, both for herself and for Tyra. How much of that could she have withstood before it broke us?

I try my best to think of every scenario, every outcome, uncertain how she and I could’ve made it through this intact. How could I ask her to come back to me when I can’t see a future in which she’s truly happy with me? I know her, and I know her heart. She could never live with herself if she caused Tyra any harm, and fuck, I don’t see how we could be together without hurting her. Tyra tore us apart, but not in the way Serenity thought she would.

I’m shaking as I walk through my front door, desperate for a glimpse of her and knowing I won’t find it. She removed every trace of her, of us, and I finally understand why. She was giving me a blank canvas, not realizing I don’t want it. I want her, and her kaleidoscope of colors.

“Archer,” Tyra says as I walk into the living room, her voice trembling. I find her sitting on the floor wearing her old pointe shoes, pain written all over her face. Guilt grips me hard and fast, and I kneel beside her, trying my hardest to set aside my own feelings, so I can be the man Serenity believes I am. It’s harder than ever before, and even as I stare at the tears in Tyra’s eyes, I fight the urge to tell her all about Serenity, and how much I fucking love her.

“Hey,” I gently murmur instead, taking in the way she’s cupping her ankles, unsure what to do or say. I’ve learned that often she just needs me to sit with her, so that’s what I do, breaking my own heart in the process. I try my hardest to clear my mind, giving her the support she deserves. “I see you’re trying on your old shoes. These were your favorites, weren’t they?”

She raises her face to look at me, tears in her eyes. “There were only two things I thought of every time I needed my mind to take me elsewhere—you and dancing again.” She sniffs, her breathing uneven. “Whenever I could, I’d practice in secret…until one day I got caught.”

She buries her face in her hands, a sob tearing through her throat. “He broke my legs, telling me not to even dream of dancing in front of an audience again, showing off my body onstage when it should only be for his eyes.”

Fuck. Tyra’s therapist has been visiting every day, but Ty hasn’t said much about what happened beyond telling us that she was taken by a stalker and held in his basement all that time. I had an idea of what she must’ve gone through, but hearing it makes me feel like the biggest fucking asshole for ever even dreaming of leaving her to find Serenity. Before anything else, Tyra was one of my closest friends, and I need to remember that.

I carefully take her into my arms, and she throws her arms around my neck as I try my best to console her. “I’ll kill him myself the second he’s found,” I whisper, fury rushing through me.

“You don’t need to,” she whispers. “I pulled the trigger myself. The man you sent…Elijah…he offered me his gun, and I took it. They’ll never find him.”

Shock courses through me, and I tighten my grip on her as she cries her heart out for everything she lost, everything she’s endured, everything she had to do. All the while, I can’t believe she’s here with me. I can’t believe her strength and her courage, and fuck, I can’t believe my own goddamn selfishness.

“I can’t dance anymore,” she cries. “My legs didn’t heal right, and it hurts too much. I lost one of the two things I loved most, Arch. You’re all I have left.”

“Ty,” I whisper, my heart aching. “I…” My eyes flutter closed, and I sigh as I hug her tightly. “Yeah,” I tell her, swallowing down every other response. “You’ve got me, Ty. For as long as you need me.”