Bad Love an Alpha’s Regret by Elise Sinclair

Chapter 313

He holds out his hand and I take it, shaking.

His grip is firm and cool, and there’s something almost comforting about it.

“I’m Emily,” I tell him in return.

His smile deepens. “That’s a pretty name.”

I laugh at this.

Ronan might be too charming for his own good.

“I think it’s pretty basic myself, but you’re welcome to your opinion.”

He gives a quick, friendly laugh.

“So, Emily, what has you out here looking so down on a day like today?”

I take a slow breath, working out how I can explain without sounding crazy.

“Something bad happened to me, something traumatizing,” I begin, choosing my words carefully. “Something that went on for a long time. I finally got out just recently, and now my family are treating me like I’m fragile and broken. Maybe because I am.

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But I don’t want to be. And I can’t stay with my family, I can see that. It’s just not going to work. They’ll hate me when the realize the truth of everything that happened to me. Except I don’t know what to do, and don’t have anywhere else to go.”

Ronan nods, listening with sympathy and understanding.

And I realize it’s something no one has bothered to do since I got home.

They all just assume they know what happened to me, and what they should do about it.

that moment with Axel

wasn’t

anyone–would be first in line to kill me if or

I’m pretty sure the fact that you’re here talking to me points to you actually being extremely strong and brave. You survived that bad thing you went through. And maybe these might seem like empty words, but I’m sure if you look inside yourself, you’ll see that

know I’m definitely different, but I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to consider that I might

to me.

is right. Just not in the way he

www

I can do things now that I

saying that makes it all worthwhile.

go through that, because I can’t exactly say what I’ve gained makes

it puts me in greater danger from

me, if I decide

no one in your family can probably see. But I get

how much this stranger has actually seen me- in a way Aaron and Jessica and Axel and everyone else maybe never will.

just

are they simply so caught up in their own drama–and I was gone for ten years, so they’ve all moved on without me–that they just

don’t mean in a spiteful way, I just mean in

kind of way.

little. “It’s also their loss if they can’t see any of that. You’re strong. You’ve proven that to yourself. You don’t need to prove it to anyone else,

I’m speechless.

know what to say, but I’m deeply touched by

say to him, emotion catching in

smiles as he gets to

few times a week,” he says. “Maybe

smiling, because I hope I do see him again.

also get to my feet, and we

step forward and hug

surprised, but then hugs me back, and