Chapter 112
Then she turned around.
I could see the puffiness around her eyes before she even looked at me. She had been crying. Her face was flushed, and her eyes were red–rimmed. That’s when it hit me. She wasn’t just missing… she was in pain. Real pain.
I stood there, watching her, my mind screaming at me to leave her alone, but I knew that would be the dumbest thing I could do. She needed someone to be there, even if she didn’t want it.
I took a deep breath, my muscles tense with the urge to rush to her side, but I forced myself to walk slowly. She didn’t look up as I approached, but I wasn’t about to back down.
“Raina, talk to me. What’s going on?” I asked, my voice calm, but I could feel the frustration starting to rise.
“Nothing,” she replied flatly, not turning around.
I didn’t buy it. I couldn’t. Not after everything that had happened. She tried to move past me, but I blocked her path. She froze for a moment, her whole body stiffening. The silence that followed felt thick, like the air itself was holding its breath.
Her voice broke the tension, sharp and cutting. “You’re not dragging me home today, Alex,” she snapped. “I’m not going to be obedient for you. Not today.”
She shoved me, hard. I barely moved, my feet planted firmly, but it only pissed her off more. I wasn’t about to let her walk away, not like this. Not when I could see the cracks in her armor.
“What is it with you people?” she yelled, her voice rising, her anger pouring out. “Why can’t you just leave me alone? Nathan’s been calling me all day, and so have you! Even Dominic-” She stopped mid–sentence as Dominic appeared, walking up to her. He reached her side quickly and pulled her into
his arms.
I heard Dominic’s voice, low and urgent, as he whispered, “Thank God you’re safe.”
But Raina pushed away from him, her body tense, her fists clenched at her sides. “No,” she said, her voice strained with emotion. “Leave me alone.”
She pointed at me, and I could feel my heart sink. “It’s all his fault,” she spat. “He just had to hurt me again. Why would he dig into Nathan like that?”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. That’s when it clicked the problem wasn’t just with Nathan, it was with me. She blamed me. She blamed me for everything.
“If I didn’t know…” she trailed off, her voice breaking, “I wouldn’t be hurt again because of him.”
I could feel my throat tighten. She was hurting
Cause of the things I had said. Because of the things I had done.
Dominic stepped closer, his voice low but firm. “If you didn’t know, you would have gotten hurt. And I couldn’t handle that, Raina. Not again.”
She shook her head, her voice trembling. “Why do you think I can handle it now, Dominic?” Her words were barely audible, but I heard them. And they cut deeper than anything I’d felt in a long time.
Before either of us could say anything more, she broke down. The dam she’d been holding back for so long finally cracked, and the sobs came violently. Her body shook with the force of it, and I couldn’t just stand there.
I stepped forward, slowly, carefully, as if not to scare her away. She didn’t fight it. She didn’t push me away as I wrapped my arms around her. She just let me hold her, her tears soaking through my shirt.
I let her cry. There was nothing I could say right now. Nothing that would make it better. All I could do was be there, let her know she wasn’t alone.
In the silence that followed, my mind raced, torn between wanting to comfort her and the guilt gnawing at me. I wanted her to know the truth about Nathan–about everything. But my mind kept telling me that it was a lie. That I had done it out of jealousy because I was losing her.
And yet… when I’d found the truth about Nathan, it felt like a weight had been lifted. But seeing her like this, broken and crying in my arms, made me question everything.
“Why me?” she asked between sobs, her voice small and fragile. “Why does it always have to be me?”
Her question hung in the air, and I didn’t have an answer. I couldn’t.
