Shadows Of A Forgotten Spring

Chapter 159 Chapter 159

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"Emma." His voice cracked on her name, and she heard the raw, naked pain in it. It sliced through the barriers she'd erected against him like a knife, opening old wounds she thought had scarred over. His eyes, glowing in the faint moonlight. reflected the pain she couldn't bear to witness. He seemed shattered beyond words.

The weight of five years of longing, regret, and pain on his face. For the first time in so many years, Emma wasn't looking at the powerful, cold Alexander that she used to know; she was looking at a man who doesn't give a flying fuck what the world thinks anymore. Her decision wavered, and for a moment, she wanted to close the distance between them, throw her arms around him, and tell him she missed him more than words could say. She wanted to press her lips against his and make him feel how his absence gutted her, that every day without him felt like walking through the storm without shelter.

But she couldn't.

Her chest clenched, and she swallowed the lump in her throat. The words he had said tonight couldn't erase the pain he had caused her. They couldn't erase those nights when she had cried to sleep, wondering why she wasn't enough for him. Her voice cracked as she whispered, "No. You made your choice, Alexander. You chose your path, and it wasn't me. It was never me."

She tore her wrist free, and the act tore at her heart as much as it probably did his. Every step she took away from him felt like walking away from a part of her soul. Her eyes blurred with her tears, but she kept walking, refusing to look back, knowing if she did, she'd lose the little strength she had.

She finally let the tears spill but she tried to muffle her sobs. His voice was raw, pleading, echoing in her mind. The love she had for him was still there, buried beneath the hurt and betrayal, but she couldn't let it surface. Not,now. Maybe not ever.

cool night air. He did not move from where he stood; yet his words held the weight of a man who had been to the very depths of hell and back. His chest rose and fell as he poured out his soul. "You are my past, my present, and my future! My heart burns for you. My body yearns for you. You are my future. When I heard about the fire at your company, I almost ran out

frozen in mid-step as his desperate confession sliced through the air. She turned

were everything she had longed to hear for years, yet they came too late. Her wide, tear-filled eyes locked onto his; disbelief

yet," she said, "you divorced

tears she had fought so desperately to

crackled as the raw ache of his

with regret. "Then I didn't really know better," Alexander revealed. "I was blind, Emma. But my life hasn't been the same since the moment you walked out of it. Month over month I searched and searched for you

to hold herself from falling apart. "You do not love me enough," she whispered with

Chapter 159

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me, Alexander, you would

you reacted at the airport. I did not want to go against your wish to keep their paternity a secret. I wasn't trying to ignore them; I was trying

for him. "I love you, Emma," Alexander repeated, his voice