Chapter 70
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I wiped at my tears, but they kept coming. I could hardly see through the blur of them as I gasped for air, trying to calm my sobs. My heart was breaking all over again, and I didn’t know how to stop it.
“I never cheated on you,” I whispered to the empty room. “I never wanted anyone else.”
believe
It didn’t matter. Killian would never believe me. He had made up his mind long ago, and nothing I said now would change it. He would always see me as the woman who betrayed him, a woman who’s unworthy of him; his love and heart belong to Laurel.
But now, things are different. Now, I have moved on. I had tried to move on, and Killian had just shattered that. He’d taken Sebastian away from me with just a few possessive words, a few misplaced claims. And now I was alone, all over again.
I felt the weight of it pressing down on me, crushing me. The years of pain, of loneliness, of feeling like I was never enough -it was all too much. I couldn’t breathe under the weight of it all.
For so long, I had carried the burden of Killian’s rejection and of his hatred. And now he was back, and I didn’t know if I could survive him tearing me apart again.
I curled up on the cold floor, hugging my knees to my chest as the sobs overtook me once more. I didn’t know how long I stayed there, crying into the silence. Time seemed to lose meaning as the storm inside me raged on.
“I hate you,” I whispered one more time, though I didn’t even know who I was saying it to anymore–Killian, the Moon Goddess, or myself.
But no matter how many times I said it, the pain didn’t go away.
I had held it together for so long, but now I was crumbling–slowly, piece by piece. My body felt weak, my chest tight with the crushing weight of my pain. It felt like I was suffocating, like I couldn’t catch my breath, as if the walls were closing in, trapping me in this cage of agony I couldn’t escape from. I pressed my hands to my face, sobbing uncontrollably. The past everything I had been trying to suppress for years–was flooding back, drowning me.
Sebastian.
The thought of him struck me like lightning, my sobs catching in my throat. Sebastian. I had wanted to tell him; I had planned to tell him everything, but the right moment never seemed to come. And now… now I wasn’t sure I would even get that chance.
I was crying and breaking in pain when I heard his voice. Soft, hesitant.
“Adeline?”
I didn’t move. I didn’t look up. I didn’t know if I could face him, not after everything that had happened. My body trembled. with the
ight of it all, with the fear that he might leave me, that he might walk away just like Killian had so many years
ago.
I felt Sebastian kneel beside me, his hand gently resting on my shoulder. “Adeline,” he whispered again, his voice soft and full of regret.
“Sebastian.” I turned to him, looking at him with tears rolling down my cheeks.
T
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have left like that. I shouldn’t have walked out on you. I-” He paused, his voice shaking slightly. “I let my anger get the best of me. I didn’t listen, and I should have I’m so sorry.”
His words broke something inside me, and a fresh wave of tears Hooded my eyes. I shook my head, trying to speak, but the words caught in any throat, tangled in the pain that had wrapped itself around me like a vice.
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Chapter 70
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“I wanted to tell you,” I finally whispered, my voice hoarse and trembling. “I was going to tell you everything, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t want you to hate me.”
“Hate you?” Sebastian’s voice was full of disbelief. “Adeline, I could never hate you.”
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I broke then, completely and utterly. The sobs that had been clawing at my throat burst free, and I collapsed into Sebastian’s chest, clutching at him as if he were the only thing keeping me tethered to this world. My tears soaked his shirt, but he didn’t seem to care. He held me tightly, his arms wrapped around me as if he could shield me from the storm raging inside me.
“I’m so sorry,” I cried, my voice muffled against his chest. “I’m so sorry, Sebastian. I wanted to tell you. I just… I didn’t know how.”
“Shh,” he murmured, his hand stroking my hair gently. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You don’t have to apologize.”
But I did. I felt like I owed him the truth–the full truth. I owed him everything I had kept hidden, every painful memory I had tried so hard to bury. I owed him the story of my past, of why I was the way I was, of why Killian’s presence in my life had shattered me so completely.
I pulled back slightly, wiping at my tear–streaked face. “I need to tell you,” I said, my voice shaking. “I need to tell you everything.”
Sebastian looked at me, his expression soft and full of understanding. “You don’t have to, Adeline,” he said gently “Not if you’re not ready.”
But I was. I had to be. I couldn’t keep carrying this weight on my own. I couldn’t keep pretending that the past didn’t matter and that it hadn’t shaped me into the person I was today.
“Years back, I was forced to marry Killian,” I began, my voice barely above a whisper. “It was an arranged marriage. I didn’t want it, but I had no choice. Our families… they arranged it, and I had to go along with it. I didn’t love him, not in the beginning. But I tried, Sebastian. I really tried. I thought maybe, if I was patient, if I was a good wife, a good mate, Killian would come to care about me. But he never did.”
Sebastian’s expression darkened slightly, but he didn’t say anything. He just held me, letting me speak, letting me pour out everything I had kept bottled up for so long.
“He was in love with someone else,” I continued, my voice breaking. “Laurel. She was always there, always in the background. No matter what I did, I could never compare to her She was everything to him, and Twas… nothing.”
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