Things unsaid.
Things that needed to be explained.
Felt.
Laid to rest.
It makes perfect sense.
Except it doesn’t.
Okay… maybe a little.
I look back up at Gabriel. There’s no hate behind those stunning gray eyes. No malice. Not even mischief. Only something clean, unguarded—an ache stripped of bitterness, almost tender in its honesty.
It takes me a moment to understand what I’m seeing—the tenderness in their silence finally sinking in. And I realize what he’s trying to tell me… that they needed that one last moment. To honor what they were. To stand inside the echo of their years together, feel it one final time, and let it pass through them like light through glass. Every moment, every touch, every laugh, and tear—slipping away, not lost, but changed.
Their bond won’t end. It will just shift, soften, make room.
Room for another heartbeat, another beginning… another love.
I clear my throat and squeeze his hand—a small tether in the silence between us. Steady. Forgiving. Real.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
46
NOAH
“Noah?”
I spin around at the sound of Alex’s voice, shoving my hands behind my back. He steps further into my room and gently closes the door behind him.
He looks so handsome—more than I ever imagined, even in my dreams. Flawless smile. Irresistible dimple. It’s like my sister painted the perfect brother just for me.
I quickly look away, unable to hold his gaze.
“I did it,” I whisper into the space between us. “I killed my father.”
“Noah,” Alex says, moving closer to the bed.
Closer to me.
My fingers tighten around the plastic cylinder, knuckles whitening. My heart pounds like a trapped animal, desperate to escape, and every breath feels like a silent scream. I’m a murderer. There’s blood on my hands that will never dry. I don’t deserve forgiveness, regardless of the circumstances.
I screw my eyes shut and start counting—because that’s what Alex does. And it helps him. It’ll help me too.
One, two, three—don’t think, just count. Four, five—don’t look at him. Six—don’t break, don’t break.
I need help.
“Angel…”
His voice steals the air from my lungs. For a second, it soothes the chaos, quiets the screaming in my head, lifts the weight from the pit of my stomach.
“What do you have behind your back, sweetheart?”
I shake my head.
