Damien—the man who’d deceived her, who’d hurt her, who still wanted her so badly it felt like dying.
Me.
Chapter 14
***
Emma
The text came six minutes ago—six minutes that stretched into an eternity.
I didn’t open it right away. I just stared at the preview glowing against the dark.
(555) 011-1482: Hey, Emma. It’s me.
I pulled the blanket tighter around my legs, sinking deeper into the couch.Twilightsat frozen on the title screen, its pale glow washing the room in a dim blue haze.
The day had been hell—filled with voices, contradictions, too many feelings to name. I’d tried everything to silence them.
A bath—scalding, endless, steam fogging the mirror as I replayed every word, every lie, every truth.
A snack.
Breathing exercises.
Even yoga.
Nothing helped.
The noise in my head only grew louder—each thought looping back to the same place, the same man.
At some point my fingers ached from holding my phone. From not reaching for him. From wanting to.
And now I had—and I didn’t know what to do. What do you say to the man who broke your trust?
The question sat heavy in my chest as I swiped down, revealing the message thread waiting patiently for me—just as I knew he was, somewhere on the other side.
I typed. Deleted. Typed again. Deleted.
Every letter that had once come effortlessly now felt foreign—stiff, wrong.
Finally, I wrote the only thing that felt honest.
Me: I’m ready.
I stared at the words until my vision blurred.
Then I hit send. It felt like pulling a trigger.
Self-doubt struck instantly—sharp, cold, and inevitable. Because those two words weren’t simple.
They carried everything I hadn’t said—every ache, every question, every part of me still tethered to him.
More than he knew.
More than I was ready to admit.
His response came fast.
