Chapter 98 What Changed?

Chapter 98 What Changed?
Chapter 98: What Changed? 

Leo 

She finally told me she loved me. But it didn’t matter anymore.

The words I had wanted for so long landed in the room but they felt like something already dead. 

She stood there crying, tears sliding down her face in the exact way that used to hurt me. Those tears used to make me weak. Used to make me forgive anything. Not today. I had learned the hard way not to fall for them again. 

The innocent face. The soft voice. The way she looked at me like I was the only person who could hurt her and heal her at the same time. It had all been a mask.

Every time I looked at her now, I saw something else.

Anderson on top of her. Kissing her. Fucking her.

This morning my father had walked into the room and greeted me with a photograph. A post-sex selfie. Ivy and Anderson in a bed that was not mine. Her hair messy. His arm around her. 

The kind of picture people only take when they want proof of what they’ve done. I could still see it when I closed my eyes. Two images burned behind my lids. 

Anderson’s body covering hers, probably moving inside her. Doing exactly what we did. 

I didn’t want to look at her anymore. The more I did, the clearer those pictures became.

I wasn’t ashamed of how hard I had fallen for her. 

She was beautiful. Different. Fascinating. Soft in places the rest of the world could never make hard. Charming without even trying. 

I had fallen for the right girl at the wrong moment. 

Her heart, her soul, and her body had never fully left Anderson. I had been stupid enough to believe that if I loved her loudly enough—if I sweet-talked her and held her and told her she was desirable and perfect—she would eventually choose me. 

I had overestimated myself. It didn’t work like that. No matter what I did, she would always see him first. Her heart belonged to Anderson. 

Her sobbing pulled me back.

My body still wanted to reach for her. Old habit. I loved her. I cared for her. That part would never change, no matter how much I wished it would.

I cleared my throat.

“It was nice finally hearing those words from you,” I said. “I’ve longed to hear them for a long time. But it’s too late now. You and I can never happen again.”

“Why?” She reached for my hand. Her fingers were cold. “You said you’d always love me. You said you wanted to be with me forever. Leo, you wanted to marry me. What changed? Because I kissed Andy? I’ll always regret that for the rest of my life—”

“You had sex with Anderson. Twice.” The words left my mouth. I can never accept that sort of betrayal. You fucked the one person I hated the most. In my own house. You also had the nerve to fuck him last night and then walk in here and play innocent—”

“No.” She cut me off, eyes wide with panic. “Leo, no. That’s not true. I never slept with Andy. I would never—”

“Let me finish.”

She fell silent.

“I understand you’ve always loved and wanted him,” I said. “I was the one trying to force something that was never going to be enough for you. But the least you could have done was let me down gently. End things with me first before going back to the one you actually wanted.”

“I don’t want Andy.” She wiped a tear away hard, almost angrily. “You’re the one I want.”

It took everything I had left to say the next sentence.

“Well, I don’t want you, Ivy. Not anymore.”

“That’s not true.”

“Go, Ivy. Go back to where you came from. Go back to Anderson. I wish you both the best. Truly.”

“You can’t possibly mean that.” Her voice broke. She folded in on herself, sobbing into her palms. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

“Maybe someday I will. But not today. Not while the pain is still this fresh. I’m sorry I was unable to share you with him. I was never taught how to share the things I valued. I could never share you with anyone else, Ivy. I’m too selfish for that.”

“I don’t want you to.” She sobbed harder. “I don’t want to share you with anyone either.”

“Go now. I don’t want my dad and Anton to come back and find you here.” I kept my voice steady even though my chest felt like it was splitting open. 

“They say when you love someone, you let them go so they can be happy. So they can be free. That’s what I’m doing. You were always so sad and scared whenever you were near me. Now I genuinely want you to be happy and free.” 

She cried harder.

“We both deserve this,” I continued. “You’ve always hurt my feelings. Played ignorant with my emotions. Distanced yourself the second you didn’t need me. Throughout every moment we had together, you forgot something important, Ivy. I have feelings too. I also wanted your love and attention. Everything you gave Andy.” 

“I’m sorry, Leo. I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s a little too late now. It’s best we go our separate ways and probably never see each other again. I’ll leave once I’m discharged. My dad and I will go somewhere far away. Far from everything. From everyone. From you.”

She looked up, eyes red and swollen. “Where will you go?”

“That’s not for you to know. The earlier I recuperate, the earlier I get back in the ring. That’s where I feel the happiest. That’s what matters.”

“What about Maddie? You’re together now?”

“No. But I’ll be present in her kid’s life. I’ll be there if she needs me to. That’s the most I can offer. I’m putting myself first this time.”

She rose slowly, wiping her face with her sleeve. It was useless. Fresh tears kept falling. “Will I… ever see you again?”

“No. It’s best we don’t. We’re bad for each other.”

A loud, broken sob tore out of her. “I swear I didn’t sleep with him. You’re the only one I’ve ever been with.”

The lie sounded almost perfect. Almost true. I was done being the fool who believed it.

“I might have been your first,” I said. “That doesn’t guarantee I was the only one.”

She looked at me like I had slapped her across the face. “Leo.” 

“Leave. And don’t ever come back. My dad doesn’t want you around. He only allowed this visit because I told him it was goodbye.” 

She nodded through the tears. “Okay. I’ll go. But I have one request.”

“What is it?”

“Can I kiss you?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “You haven’t kissed me since—”

I didn’t need to think.

“Yes.”

I wanted it too. I wanted the taste of her one last time, even if Anderson had already been there. Even if it would hurt more afterward.

She wiped her face with a small, sad smile and stepped closer to the bed. She leaned down.

I met her halfway.

The second our mouths touched, something inside me snapped. I reached up, caught her by the waist, and pulled her onto my lap carefully so I wouldn’t pull any of the monitors. 

She settled across my thighs, knees on either side of my hips, and the kiss turned hungry immediately. Emotional. Desperate. Like we were both trying to memorize the shape of goodbye.

I kissed her like a man who already knew he would never get to do it again.

My hands slid up her back, under the hem of her sweater, pressing her closer. She made a soft sound against my mouth and opened for me. 

The kiss deepened. Tongues met. I tasted salt from her tears and the sweetness that had always been uniquely hers. I kissed her harder, tilting her head with one hand so I could take more.

Then I broke away from her mouth and dragged my lips down the side of her neck. She shivered. Her fingers threaded into my hair and held on, not pushing me away, but pulling me closer. 

I kissed the soft spot beneath her ear, then lower, across the slope of her shoulder where her sweater had slipped. 

I wanted every inch I could reach. I wanted to leave the memory of my mouth on her skin so that later, when she was gone, she would still feel me there.

I kissed her hairline. The bridge of her nose. Her eyelids. The corner of her mouth. Her earlobe. Back to her neck. Lower. 

I tugged the neckline of her sweater aside just enough to press open-mouthed kisses to the top of her chest. She was crying silently now, tears dripping onto my hair, but her hands never stopped holding me to her.

I buried my face between her breasts, breathing her in, kissing the soft skin there over and over like I could somehow stay. She cradled the back of my head and held me against her heart. 

I could feel it racing under my mouth. I stayed there longer than I should have, kissing her chest, her collarbones, the upper curves of her breasts, whispering her name against her skin between each press of my lips.

Eventually I forced myself to lift my head. I brought her face back down to mine and kissed her deeply again—slower this time, but no less intense. 

She ran her hands over my shoulders, my arms, the bare skin of my back above the sheets, like she was trying to memorize the shape of me the same way I was memorizing her. 

We kissed until my chest started to ache in a way that had nothing to do with the surgery and everything to do with the fact that this was the end.

I was the one who finally pulled away.

I rested my forehead against her chest. Both of us were breathing hard. Her tears kept falling onto my cheeks. I didn’t wipe them away. 

“Ivy,” I whispered.

She made a broken sound and tried to kiss me again. I let her—once, twice—then gently held her face between my hands and stopped her.

“That’s enough,” I said, even though it would never be enough. “You have to go.”

She shook her head against my palms, crying harder. “Please. Leo, please don’t do this. I love you. I only ever—”

“I know.” My voice cracked. I didn’t care. “I love you too. That’s why I’m letting you leave.”

I helped her off my lap carefully. Every place her body had touched mine felt cold the second she was gone. She stood beside the bed on unsteady legs, wiping her face with both hands, looking at me like she was trying to burn the image into her memory.

I reached up and brushed one last tear from her cheek with my thumb.

“You were always sad with me, Ivy. Now I want you to be happy,” I said. “Even if it’s not with me.”

She opened her mouth, closed it, then nodded once. A tiny, shattered motion. 

She walked to the door. Her hand shook when she touched the handle. She looked back one final time. “I love you.” 

I didn’t look away. I couldn't. 

I watched her until the door closed and the soft click of the latch told me she was gone.

Only then did I let my head fall back against the pillows. Only then did I press the heel of my hand against my eyes and let the first real tear since the cardiac arrest slip free.

I had loved her before I knew her name. And I would still love her long after she forgot the sound of mine.

But I would never be the man who shared her.

And that meant this was the last time.