We were never meant to last 22

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Chapter 22

The screech of brakes tore through the rain.

Sean stumbled back, his umbrella slipping from his grasp and tumbling into oncoming traffic. In seconds, it was nothing but a twisted mess on the wet pavement. Freezing rain slid down his jaw and soaked into his shirt. Across the street, a flash of gray–her coat–vanished into the subway entrance.§

With barely a thought, Sean barreled past a guy clutching a cup of hot coffee. The blue light from a digital billboard exploded in his eyes as the escalator carried a flood of blurred faces toward him. He spun around, searching frantically, hope flickering and fading with every passing second. He was just about to give up when, suddenly, a white glow appeared at the top of the escalator. There–pale fingers wrapped around a black umbrella, a colorful beaded bracelet on her wrist catching the light. It lit up the shadows in Sean’s mind like fireworks.

“Excuse me!” A delivery worker brushed his shoulder, and a woman with a toddler squeezed past, nearly knocking him over.}]

Sean shoved his way through the crowd, and finally–finally–he saw Bella’s face. The overhead lights caught on her hair, her lips tinted a soft rose pink. Her eyes, though, were as bright as ever, shining like stars. The wind from the arriving train lifted her coat. As the subway announcement echoed through the station, Bella stepped into the car.

Sean lunged forward, desperate to follow, but just then, the warning chime sounded. The doors slid shut right in front of him.

The train roared away, taking his thoughts, his breath, everything with it. For a long moment, Sean just stood there, frozen, feeling like

he’d turned to stone.

But inside, something wild was happening. It was like a barren field suddenly bursting into bloom–his heart, numb for so long, pounding in his chest again, alive and electric.

He hadn’t managed to catch up to her, but he didn’t care. He was exhilarated. If he’d ever doubted Calista before, now he couldn’t. Bella was alive.

Bella was alive.

She was here–she hadn’t died after all.

Sean dashed out of the station and jumped into a car at the curb, breathless. “To the Lopez estate–hurry!“}

Meanwhile, on the train, Bella’s hands were white–knuckled and her face had gone pale.§

She’d heard it–Sean’s voice. That voice had haunted her in her last life, in the moments before she’d tried to end it all, and again after her car accident. Every time danger closed in, she’d heard him.”

But right now, he was the last person she wanted to hear.

It was over between them, Really over. She had no desire to see Sean ever again.”

She had no idea how he’d found out she was alive, but nothing good would come from him being here.”

Without hesitating, Bella pulled out her phone and called Miranda at the old family house.

“Miranda, Sean found me,” she said, barely above a whisper. “He knows I’m alive.“}

She’d only meant to meet some friends–she never expected to run into Sean by accident.§

If she’d known, she would have stayed put.

There was a pause on the other end, then Miranda’s voice came, steady but tense. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, Sean won’t find you.” “Thanks. I’ll stay away for a few days. Please tell my parents and Grandpa for me,” Bella said softly.

She’d been exposed now, she couldn’t risk staying in Paris any longer.

Miranda told her to be careful, then hung up.

After getting off the subway, Bella hailed a cab straight to the airport.

“Hi, I need a ticket to the United States,” she said at the counter.

With her ticket in hand, she headed to the departure lounge.

Back in Paris, Sean arrived at the Lopez family home, barely pausing to catch his breath. The reception he got was as cold as it had been for Aiden the last time.

“Sean, if you’re going to lie, at least make it a good one,” Miranda said, sipping her tea with a smirk. “You say Bella’s alive, that you saw her in the Paris subway? Where’s your proof? Show us some evidence.“}]

Sean’s heart sank–he’d been in such a rush, he hadn’t even thought to take a picture. But then he remembered the photo his daughter had