Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 74

Not Ready to Forgive

My stomach turns, still empty since I never ate the plate of eggs I left in the living

room.

I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at my wrist, my fingers tracing the thin, raised line of the scar. It's usually the only thing that grounds me when panic takes over, when the weight of old memories threatens to break me.

It's not doing much to help me right now.

The room feels too quiet, too still, as my mind takes me back to that day.

The day everything changed.

1 see the inside of the car, hear the hum of the engine, feel the warm sun

streaming through the windows. Alex is in the passenger seat, flipping through the stations on the

radio.

I'm in the backseat, leaning forward, reaching to poke his ear because he refuses to put on my station pick.

He swats at my hand, and I giggle.

I give him a peaceful thirty seconds before I lick my finger and try again.,

“Alina, quit it!” he says, but his voice is playful, and I giggle, doing it again.

He spins as much as he can in his seat and swats at me with both hands, slapping my shoulders until I'm laughing so hard my stomach hurts. Dad glances at us, grinning. "You are both the most annoying kids.”

The memory shifts and slows, the edges blurring.

The car enters the intersection.

A flash of red streaks across my vision.

sound of crunching metal drowning out my scream. The car jerks sideways, and we're spinning, flipping, tumbling into chaos. I smell the sharp

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Not Ready to Forgive

like needles.

stops moving,

Alex doesn't even scream. I watch their still bodies as I taste blood in

my hands through my hair, tugging at the roots, trying

It's my fault.

was

And I survived.

sharp and cruel. Why me? Why did I get to walk away

silently, wiping at my face with the hem of my shirt. My shoulders shake, and my breath comes

feel like I cannot keep it at bay, all I

did, t's like the ground beneath me has been

keep Zaid at a distance. He was so careless; he

Aiden has me feeling guilty all

to steady myself, when I hear

an instant, running out of my room

lamp lies in pieces on the floor, and

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3:16 pm

Not Ready to Forgive

of them even glance in my direction, too focused

Aiden, his voice low.

blinks like he's in shock.

again if I had to. You're my brother, Aiden. I love

heartbreaking to see the relief in Aiden's face, like he believed with all of himself that

painful for me to see Zaid express his love so confidently.

says, his voice breaking. "I'm

soften. "Don't

to the

his sides. "Don't waste the chance I gave you. Take the damn scholarship. Go to fucking