Something flickered in his eyes, something dark and final. And then, she watched it happen. Watched the spark in him—the spark that had always been there, the one that had drawn her in, held her captive—begin to fade. She watched as he broke.
His hands flexed on his knees, and for a moment, she thought he might reach for her, might pull her into him and beg her to stay.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he turned his gaze back to the water, his voice barely above a whisper.
"If you leave…" He exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through his hair, his jaw clenching tight. "I might as well burn this whole fucking place to the ground."
Her breath caught. “Chase—”
“Because, Monroe,” he contin ued, his voice wrecked, “your echoes will haunt me.”
Tears burned her eyes, but she blinked them back, refusing to let them fall. Her fingers trembled against the wood beneath her. Chase let out a slow, measured breath, but when he spoke again, his voice was different—softer, quieter, raw in a way that sliced through her.
“I love you.”
It wasn’t desperate. It wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t even a plea. It was a truth. A simple, undeniable truth that shattered her into a thousand unfixable pieces. A broken sound slipped from her lips, her heart felt like it was being ripped straight from her chest.
“Please don’t do this,” she whispered.
He turned toward her, wrecked and undone. “Why not?”
Because if she stayed, she wouldn’t be able to leave. Because if she left, she would never be whole again.
She forced herself to stand.
Chase followed, his hands clenched into fists at his sides, his voice softer now, but somehow more desperate. “Don’t go.”
Her throat closed.
She wanted to stay.
God, she wanted to stay.
But the fear—the unknown—it was too much.
So she reached for him instead, cupping his face in her hands, memorizing every sharp angle, every line, every inch of him. He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch like it was the last thing keeping him tethered to this earth. Because it was. And then, she kissed him.
Slow.
Lingering.
A kiss that should have been enough.
But it wasn’t.
And when she pulled away, when she took a step back, her heart cracked straight down the middle.
Chase’s eyes were heavy, his chest rising and falling unevenly as he searched her face for something—anything—that might make sense of this.
But there was nothing.
Only heartbreak.
Only goodbye.
He stepped back.
