126

126
AURORA'S POV

The bench was cold beneath me, but I stayed. I could hear the soft splash of the fountain. It was the only thing that felt real while his words rattled in my head like loose change.

He stood near the edge of the walkway, folder still in his hand. Silent now. Like he expected me to do something with the confession. Like truth was some kind of gift.

I looked up slowly. “Do you think knowing the truth changes how it felt? Back then? When you let me walk away like I was nothing?”

He winced. Actually winced. “No,” he said. “I know it does not. I just—I had to say it. You deserve to hear it.”

My voice was low, bitter. “You had the chance to believe me. To ask me. You chose him. Every single time.”

Cassian stepped closer, slowly, like he was afraid I might vanish. “I was wrong. About all of it. About you. And I have never been sorrier for anything in my life.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to fall into those words like they might catch me. But I had believed him before. That was the problem.

“You let me carry that shame,” I whispered. “Do you know what that did to me?”

His face twisted, but I did not stop.

“You left me to be humiliated. Fired. Erased. And you never looked back. Until now. When it is too late to undo any of it.”

He opened his mouth, but I raised a hand. “No. Do not tell me you would have done things differently. You did not. That is what matters.”

His shoulders dropped. He looked down at the folder. Then back up. “I cannot ask for your forgiveness.”

“Good,” I said. “Because you will not get it.”

CASSIAN'S POV

Her voice hit like ice water. Not loud. Not cruel. Just... done. I had come here hoping for a crack. Just one. There was nothing left to crack.

She stood and crossed her arms tightly. “So what now, Cassian? You drop this confession at my feet and walk away feeling noble?”

I shook my head. “No. I walk away knowing I finally told the truth. That is all I have left to give you.”

She stared hard at me. “Then you have nothing,” she said.

My mouth opened, but I could not make a single word sound right. She was not wrong. I had waited too long. I had believed the wrong man.

“Aurora,” I said, softer now. “I thought I was protecting something. But the truth is, I was just a coward. Afraid to trust what I felt.”

She blinked. Once. Her voice cracked slightly. “Then that is your burden to carry. Not mine.”

I stepped back, nodding. My fingers curled around the folder. “Do you want this?” I asked.

“No,” she said. “I already lived it.”

AURORA'S POV

He left it anyway. On the bench. Like that made it easier. Like truth on paper weighed the same as all the nights I spent wondering why I was never enough.

I stared at the folder. Part of me wanted to fling it into the fountain. Another part wanted to rip it open and scream. Instead, I sat back down.

He stood still. Waiting. Like hope was still breathing between us. It was not. Not anymore.

“You should go,” I said finally. “Before I say something I do not mean.”

He did not move right away. “Would it help if I said I miss you?” he asked.

I turned away. “No. Because the man I loved would not have done what you did.”

The silence that followed felt longer than the space between then and now. But he left. I felt it in the air shift as he walked away.

CASSIAN'S POV

The doors slid open behind me. The hallway felt colder than when I arrived. My chest felt hollow. Not just empty, but scraped clean.

Colin stood by the far wall, eyes on his phone. He glanced up when he saw me. “Did she hear you out?”

I nodded, slowly. “Yes. She did.”

“And?” he asked carefully.

“She told me to go,” I said. “So I did.”

He said nothing at first. Then, softly, “That is still more than you had yesterday.”

I wanted to believe that. I wanted to think truth could do something here. But I had waited too long. My apology was too little, too late.

AURORA'S POV

I stayed at the bench until Leo’s nurse came looking for me. Her smile was soft. “He is asking for you,” she said.

My heart tugged. I followed her down the hall, past people who had no idea my world had cracked again.

In the room, Leo grinned when he saw me. “Mama,” he said, arms out.

I gathered him close. His tiny fingers tangled in my hair. He smelled like soap and innocence. He had no idea what monsters I had once loved.

“Mama is here,” I whispered. “Always.”

CASSIAN'S POV

I did not drive away right away. I sat in the car with the engine off. The city lights blurred behind the windshield. I did not know what came next.

I had said the truth. Every word of it. But truth did not rewind time. It did not make a broken thing whole.

I leaned my head back. Closed my eyes.

And for the first time in years, I felt it.

Not power. Not anger.

Just regret.

Pure. Simple. Crushing.

AURORA'S POV

Later that night, I opened the folder. I do not know why. Maybe I needed to see the damage on paper. Maybe I needed proof that I had not imagined it all.

It was worse than I thought.

Dates. Signatures. Emails. Fabricated clearance. Bastian’s network exposed like a rotten root.

My hands shook. Not from pain. From fury.

Cassian had finally opened his eyes.

Too bad I had already learned to live without being seen.

CASSIAN'S POV

Colin cleared his throat beside me. “There is something else,” he said. “Someone has been watching. From inside.”

I frowned. “Inside what?”

“Verdant,” he said. “And us. He has been tracking everything. Quietly. He saw you at the hospital.”

I sat forward. “Who?”

Colin hesitated. Then said the name.

And suddenly I knew the apology was only the beginning.