Dismissal.
He turned and strode after the young man, his long strides already pulling him away from me, his focus entirely locked on her.
On Violet.
On the woman who mattered.
I stood there.
Frozen.
The keys pressed into my hand like a cruel joke.
He had left me.
Here.
In the garage.
Like I was nothing.
Like I had always been nothing.
My fingers tightened slowly around the metal.
So tightly that it hurt.
I clenched my jaw.
Then—
Without thinking—
I moved.
I followed.
Fast.
Each step sent a dull ache through my body, but I ignored it, pushing forward, keeping pace from a distance as I trailed behind him through the hospital corridors.
He didn’t look back.
Not once.
Not even a flicker of awareness that I was there.
Every step he took screamed urgency.
Purpose. Devotion.
Everything he had never given me.
Everything he gave her.
I watched him move.
Watched how quickly he responded to her.
