Title: Shattered Love (Forever Us, #1)
Author: Nivia Borell
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 28, 2018
Synopsis
Bria du Mont and Damien du Sky have been in love for as long as they can remember. Neighbors and best friends since childhood, they planned to be together forever.
That is until Damien seeks to propose to Bria on her eighteenth birthday and finds her in bed with another man.
Bria has no memory of how she ended up in that situation, but Damien still leaves her. Traumatized by his departure, she develops broken heart syndrome and becomes emotionally numb in her search for closure.
Meanwhile, Damien drowns his pain in alcohol before becoming a ruthless CEO and a playboy who refuses to let himself love again.
Prisoners of their past, Bria and Damien prove incapable of staying away from each other. They dig deeper into the fateful night which tore them apart and uncover secrets which will threaten all they know and challenge the meaning and strength of true love.
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Excerpt
“I am done, Bria,” he says, his bloodshot eyes sealed on mine, his voice cracking. He raises a hand exposing the inside of his palm as I gawk at the fine and long lines carving it. “I have to give you something. Here is my bleeding heart. It has ceased beating in my chest, Bria. It’s yours and always has been. Mend it or smash it!”
His words and torn expression snap something inside me, but before I sink to the floor, he grabs me and scoops me into his lap. Tears run down his pain-distorted face, and I can’t take it any longer. I join him, and we weep in earnest for what feels like an eternity. Then, with my head resting on his chest and his arms wrapped around me, we sit here on the floor, an entangled mess of broken hearts and bodies and sad sounds.
I feel a strong urge to caress him, but I halt my attempt to comfort him. Maybe I am completely mad because I’ve always felt this aching need to be there for him, to ease his pain. I can’t rein in myself even after everything that’s happened. He’s the one I can never turn away from, my other half. I feel truly possessed and under the spell and power of something that, although it feels foreign and distant, is still strong enough to make me surrender my all to him. I am far from caring or cringe he will hurt me anymore. I’ve been on the receiving end for a long time now, and it has never deterred me from trying to mollify his pain. Yes, I suppose he might show some sort of disturbed rejection and hurl cruel words my way, but, as always, I will take it for what it is—his particular coping mechanism.
“How can you even touch me?”
I freeze with my hand midway in the air because the last time we were together, he said he despised and loathed me, so, of course, he will not like my caress. Likely sensing my turmoil, he clasps my hand in his and trails kisses down my wrist. His gesture has something reverent in it, and the moisture he leaves on my hand mesmerizes me. I can’t seem to peel my eyes away.
“Bria, how can you wish to touch and comfort me? How can you caress the same person who caused you the most pain? Comfort the one person who’s not at all worthy of it? How can you touch the same person who said those horrible things to you back then, terrible lies out of the mouth of a complete sinner?”
I just stare at him in disbelief, and a fine line spreads on his forehead. Maybe I’m already dead and haven’t noticed it. Perhaps I took too many aspirin with too much wine. I look at the aspirin foil. It is intact. My body trembles with Damien’s closeness, but my mind is far away. He snatches the packet from my hand, and his brows snaps together.
“What the fuck are these, Bria? What are these pills?” He shakes me, but I still can’t utter any words. “Answer me, Bria, or I’ll force you to retch! Do you really enjoy making me lose my damn mind? I am on the brink of my sanity here, and you are not helping.”
The force of his voice rattles the walls. Is he for real? I manage to find a few words. “It’s aspirin. I have a headache,” I lie.
“Stop deceiving me, Bria. It kills me how easily you can lie while looking me straight in my face.”
He clenches my upper arms, and I tilt my head up.
“When did it become so effortless for you, my sweet baby? Can you remember the day I told you I wanted to corrupt your innocence but hoped it would still be there shining in your hazel eyes? What have I done?”
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