Chapter 164

Tears were always a sign of weakness or so I had convinced myself. And yet, I couldn’t stop them. They kept falling, each drop a reminder of hour everything had gone wrong, how it should never have reached this paint.

Maxwell’s words, his sudden display of emotion, came far too late. He spoke as if he could reach me, as if he could pull me back, but I was already gone. was trapped in a dark loop of memories, bitter anger, and unshakable regret, emotions so deep they seemed etched into my bones.

Moving past them felt impossible, and time no longer felt like a friend that could help me heal. I’d always thought free could mend anything, but even that hope felt like a lie now.

All they ever had to do was care-care about me, just as much as I’d cared about them. To believe me when I spoke. To stand beside me without hesitation. But it was too much to ask, apparently.

In their eyes, I was insignificant, someone whose feelings and needs could be ignored. Maybe they believed I had nowhere else to go, that I was bound to stay no matter what. With no family to turn to, no home waiting for me, I was stuck in their world. They must have known that, and maybe that’s why they felt free to take me for granted. I was a bet they thought they couldn’t lose.

But here I was, walking toward the woods, feeling the weight of every single hurt they had ever thrown my way. And as I walked, my thoughts drifted to Keith. My heart ached just thinking of him. A man like him… he would have been perfect.

I felt a surge of warmth, a glimmer of what could have been, but I knew life doesn’t deal perfect cards. It tries to strike some kind of balance, I guess, and I’d just drawn a losing hand.