Chapter 24
The snow in Seabrook began to fall without warning.
20.13 O
Damien stood outside Elara’s B&B, a thin layer of white dusting his black overcoat. His fingertips were red with cold, but he still clutched the file folder in a death grip. He stared at the closed door, his throat tight. Finally, he raised his hand and knocked.
The door opened.
Elara stood there. When she saw him, her expression didn’t change. “Can I help you?”
b
Damien’s breath caught. He had imagined this moment, imagined all the things he would say. But now, with her standing in front of him, it felt as if his throat had closed up, and he couldn’t force a single word out.
“I…” his voice was hoarse. He held out the folder. “I wanted you to see this.”
Elara’s gaze fell on the folder, but she didn’t take it. “What is it?”
File pus
Adity
“Everything Isabelle did to you.” Damien’s fingers trembled slightly. “I just found out. She was framing you the whole time. This is the proof.”
Elara listened, but her face showed no surprise. She simply looked away. “Oh. I don’t care about that anymore.”
Damien’s heart plummeted. He had expected anger, sorrow, even accusations. But all she said was that she didn’t care.
“I punished her,” he added quickly, as if desperate to prove something. “And your parents, I also…”
“Damien,” Elara cut him off, her expression cold. “Why do you still insist on blaming everyone else?”
He froze.
“Were you not at fault?” She looked directly at him, her voice quiet but every word a dagger. “When Isabelle was doing those things
to me, were you not complicit?”
na vise. He wanted to argue, to defend himself, but he
Damien felt the air leave his lungs, as if his heart was being squeezed in a
couldn’t say a word.
She was right. What right did he have to blame it all on Isabel
was he who had ignored Elara’s pain. It was he who, when sh
It
was he
needed him
who had chosen to believe Isabelle, time and again. It oot had personally pushed her into the abyss.
“I…” His voice was low and raw, thick with a humiliating shame.
“I’m
sorry.”
Elara shook her head, a faint, humorless smile on her lips. “Don’t be. It’s all meaningless now.”
She paused, then suddenly lifted her left hand. A diamond ring on her fourth finger caught the light, sending out a blinding glare.
“I’m married.”
Damien’s world shattered. He stared at the ring, a roaring in his ears, as if the ground had crumbled beneath his feet.
“You…” his voice was broken. “To whom?”
Elara didn’t answer. She just looked past him, toward the gate.
Damien followed her gaze.
Líam stood there, holding a bag of groceries, looking back at them with a cool, steady gaze.
In that instant, Damien’s blood ran cold.
Elara’s voice was calm, almost cruel. “Damien, we’re over. Don’t ever come back here again.”
Chapter 24
20.13 O
With that, she turned and walked toward Liam, her back resolute, without a hint of hesitation.
Damien stood alone, watching her disappear into the falling snow. His chest felt as if it had been hollowed out, the pain so intense it stole his breath.
He knew, this time, he had truly, irrevocably lost her.
The snow fell harder.
He didn’t know how he made it back to his car.
He sat in the driver’s seat, his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white, the veins on his hands standing out in sharp relief. The snow blurred the world outside, just as it blurred his thoughts.
He remembered the first time he saw her, standing quietly in her parents‘ living room, a delicate, obedient doll.
He remembered the porridge she made for him, the lamp she left on for him, the endless stream of hurts she had endured for him.
And he remembered the last look she gave him–calm, cold, as if he were nothing more than a stranger.
His heart felt as if it were being slowly, brutally flayed, the pain making it impossible to breathe.
ང་དང་ནང་དང་ཡོད་ ཅ་ད་ག་བཤད ོ་དག་ ང་ན་དང་ཞིན་
He slammed his fist on the steering wheel. The horn blared, a jarring, ugly sound in the silent, snowy night
“Elara…”
He whispered her name, his voice a shattered wreck.
But this time, there was no one left to answer.
Some mistakes, he was beginning to understand, took a lifetime of regret to pay for.”
