With his head snapping sharply toward the other side of the room, Ethan kept his gaze lowered, his jaw clenched as he felt the fiery sting of the slap echo across his cheek. The vibrant pain throbbed through him, not just on the surface of his skin but deep inside his chest, mingling with the ache of betrayal.
He drew in a shaky breath, ran his tongue across his dry lips, and slowly raised his head.
His eyes locked onto Amelia's, and for a fleeting moment, the room seemed to fall silent around them.
She stood there—heartbroken, disappointed—her eyes shimmering with the kind of pain that words alone could never fully capture.
"There are so many things I could endure from you, Ethan," Amelia's voice cracked as she spoke, heavy with both love and dismay. "But those words… I wasn't expecting them. I wasn't prepared to hear that from you."
Ethan's chest tightened.
