(Dante's POV)
Snow settled on me, though the cold had gone numb. My next breath barely reached the end of the piss-stinking alley.
*You're not in my world anymore, Dante.*
She had spoken without anger. Indifference hurt worse; anger would have meant I still occupied some part of her life.
For months, I blamed Elena, Cassius, and fate. In the alley, with one leg and no one left to command, those excuses sounded pathetic.
I had shoved Aria forward in the hallway because I wanted to prove I could. Elena's weakness gave me an excuse.
I treated Aria's love as a fixed fact and believed I could break her, then claim the right to put her back together.
Elena took my money and disappeared. Once Aria left, the rest failed in smaller, humiliating ways. I screamed for a clean shirt, and nobody
