KALEB
I watch Hope disappear, the hollow in my chest widening with every step she takes away from me.
My eyes burn, not from the evening sun, but from an ache I didn't know I was capable of feeling.
I want to chase her. Rip her out of Jeremy's bike, fall at her feet, and beg...fucking beg for forgiveness I don't deserve. I want to hold her so tightly the world could never hurt her again.
But I can't. Because I'm the one who hurt her.
I lied. I manipulated. I dragged her into the shadows of my vengeance, using her heart as a pawn in my war against my past.
Jeremy's bike slips from view, taking her back to Maryland and into a life without me. I stand motionless, releasing a breath that trembles on the way out like my body knows this is a breaking point.
The pain isn't a sharp stab. It's a slow, cruel grind—like someone is peeling away pieces of my soul and stomping them into the concrete. I've never felt anything like it.
And I hate it.
