“So polite of you.”
His smile tightened at the edges. “I’m trying here, Harper. I’m trying to apologize. To have a conversation like adults. And you can’t even give me five minutes?”
“We’re done, Silas.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “I’m not doing this. I’m not getting sucked into your gaslighting again. It’s pointless. It’s over. We are never getting back together.”
Something flickered behind his eyes. That familiar shift, like watching storm clouds roll in.
“Don’t say that.” His voice dropped. Quieter now. Dangerous. “Don’t say that like it’s already decided.”
“It is decided. I decided it when I left.”
“You left because you were confused.” He took another step toward me, and I stepped back, my hip hitting the side mirror. “You were stressed. Overwhelmed. I should have seen it. I should have taken better care of you. That’s on me.”
“You punched me so hard, I thought my orbital bone was broken.”
The words hung in the frozen air between us.
Silas winced, and for one fleeting second, I saw something that almost looked like shame.
“That was an accident,” he whispered. “You know that was an accident. I never meant to hurt you. I just … I lose myselfsometimes. When I think about losing you, I can’t breathe. I can’t function. You’re everything to me, Harper. Everything.”
His eyes were wet. His voice was shaking. And if I didn’t know better, I might have believed him.
But I did know better.
“I need you to leave.”
“I can’t.” He shook his head slowly, tears spilling down his cheeks. “I can’t leave. I won’t. I’ll never let you go, Harper. Don’t you understand that? I’ll never let you go.”
The words weren’t a declaration of love.
They were a life sentence.
“You’re acting like I’m some kind of monster.” His voice pitched with false hurt. “Like you had to flee the state just to get away from me.”
Because I did. Because you are.
I didn’t say it out loud. I just reached for the car door again.
“Stop.” His hand clamped over mine on the door handle, squeezing until my knuckles ground together. “I’m talking to you.”
“You’re hurting me.”
He squeezed harder. “You want to know what hurts? Coming home to an empty apartment. Finding out the woman you love disappeared in the middle of the night like you’re some kind of criminal.”
“Let go of my hand.”
“When you agree to have a real conversation with me.”
I looked up at him. Met his eyes. And said the only thing I knew would break his grip.
“I don’t love you anymore, Silas.”
Silas’s face went blank.
His hand released mine.
I yanked the door open, but before I could slide inside, Silas grabbed the frame and slammed it shut so hard, the whole vehicle shook.
