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.

poured out his soul. "You are my past, my present, and my

in mid-step as his desperate confession sliced through the air. She turned slowly, her heart pounding

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

she said, "you divorced me for

she had fought so desperately to hold

crackled as the raw ache

he rasped out, his voice hoarse 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.

Her lips quivered and wobbled as she struggled to hold herself from falling apart. "You do not love me enough," she whispered with bitterness and a broken heart. No matter how much you claim to love me, I'll always be 13:22

Chapter 159

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me, Alexander, you would have told

in pain. "I didn't tell them because of you, Emma. Because of how 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 to respect your

brewing inside her. Anger, love, grief, and longing swirled together, threatening to consume her. Her head told her to turn and walk away, to protect herself from the man who had once destroyed her. But her heart, her treacherous, aching heart, refused to let go of the love it still harbored for him. "I love you, Emma," Alexander repeated, his voice cracked by the burden of his emotions. "Please... give me a second chance." Emma's lips shook; she was holding on by a thread. She slowly shook her head, cold and far away, "It's too late