Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 203

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My heart breaks.

Not figuratively. At least it doesn't feel like that. It feels physical. Like my heart is actually cracked open, filling me with blood.

Not poetic, like how people describe it in movies.

It's loud in my head. It shatters, devastating and brutal. I can feel it tear open in my chest, like something vital inside me just split apart. Like I'm losing a part of myself all over again.

Losing my family was one thing, they were ripped from, taken from me. I couldn't fight for them, I couldn't see them.

But Zaid?

He's standing right in front of me and still slipping through my fingers.

"No," I whisper, my voice broken, my knees shaking.

I stumble back a step, vision blurring. The world around me bends, spinning slightly as the reality of it crashes down on me.

Zaid's still looking at me with all that love in his eyes, but he's letting me go. Tears spill down my cheeks, hot and endless. My throat clenches so tightly it hurts to breathe. The

ache in my chest blooms into agony and I can't stop it; I break.

My knees buckle.

catches me before I

wrapping around me as I collapse against him, gasping like I'm drowning. Because that's what it feels like. Like the oxygen has been ripped out of the world and I can't find any to pull

holding my cheeks. "Alina, breathe, my

fisting the fabric like it's the only

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violent, shaking through

better. I swear, I'll try harder. Just stay. Please, Zaid.

tightens as he looks down at me, eyes filled with more pain than I can stand to see. "We'll find our way back to each other. We will. I love

if I need to step away for you to

find myself without you,"

His thumbs sweep over my cheeks like he's trying to

god, I

I see you, Alina. I see your value, your strength, your brilliance. But if you

desperate, searching his face for something to hold on to. I press

But he stops me.

he whispers, his voice breaking. He shakes his head

my name shatters me

be here for you, as a friend.

his neck as I calm my breathing, my arms tightening

nothing will make sense without you," I

He doesn't speak. Just rocks me gently, fingers in my hair, lips pressed to

tears take everything from me, when exhaustion makes my