The End Of a Malags
Chapter 135
Hathing You seen a compraed, like I meent thing to you anymore
I probably sound like a nut to right www
“Mors or less? Arber murmured, a sardonie smile curving her lips despite the rawness in her eyes. “If you wanted me back, why didn’t you just call me?” Her voice trembled with frustration. She clenched her fists very part of her fighting the urge to reach across the space between them and stap him until his teeth rattled, just to pull him into understanding how deeply he’d hurt her.
Luce didn’t respond immediately. He looked away, his shoulders heavy with a weariness she hadn’t seen before. Slowly, he met her gaze, his expression softened by something close to regret, “I knew you,” he started his voice barely above a whisper. “I knew the kind of woman you were, Strong, stubborn, fiercely independent. You once told me about your mother…” He stopped, hesitating as though he was intruding on an nid, sensitive wound.
Amber felt a twinge in her chest as he brought up a memory she’d buried long ago, something she had shared with him one night, back when they would talk through the night in his penthouse, unraveling each others secrets like fragile threads in the dark. She remembered telling him about her mother, how she’d grown up desperately seeking affection that was never returned. Her mother had been distant, absent in all the ways that mattered. No warmth, no pride, just indifference,
“You told me how, no matter how much she neglected you, you loved her Luca continued. “You tried for years to win her affection, hoping that one day she’d look at you with the same pride other mothers showed their daughters. You told me that you spent years believing that someday, somehow, she’d change.” His eyes softened, his gaze distant, as though he were seeing Amber’s pain through the eyes of her sixteen- year–old self.
Amber swallowed, memories flooding back. And the there was this one occasion- a recital, where she was going to play piano. She’d stood on that stage, scanning the audience, heart pounding, until she’d finally understood her mother wasn’t coming. She’d felt… nothing. No anger, no sadness, just emptiness. It was the moment she had realized she had nothing left to give.
“You told me that day, Amber,” he murmured, “that when she didn’t show up for you, you stopped feeling anything for her. That was the day you walked away from her for good.” Luca’s voice was thick, his words hanging between them, heavy with memory. He took a shaky breath and looked at her, his face a blend of sadness and shame. “I never forgot that story. It haunted me, thinking that one day… one day you’d look at
me that way.”
Amber felt her chest tighten, a mixture of anger and disbelief rising within her. “You remember that, but you didn’t understand that I was already feeling abandoned?” Her words sliced through the silence, a flash of hurt illuminating her face. “You knew that, and still…”
He ran a hand through his hair, struggling to find the right words. “L… I knew I didn’t treat you the way you deserved,” he admitted, his voice almost breaking. “You were painted as a scarlet woman across the media. My family badmouthed you, disrespected you every chance they got….. and I did nothing to defend you.” His jaw tightened, his hand curling into a fist as he continued. “You cried out for help, and I just watched, convincing myself that having me, having my love, would be enough for you.”
Luca’s shoulders slumped as he held her gaze, his own filled with a raw, unguarded honesty that Amber hadn’t seen in a long time. “I thought, I really thought, you’d forgive me, that you’d see my inaction as a small price to pay for my love. My family… they made you feel like you didn’t belong, and I let them. I was trying to make it up to them–to people who thought they’d lost me. And I thought…” he shook his head in dismay, “I thought that as long as you had me, that would be enough.”
Luca looked down, his face etched with remorse. “When you left, I realized it was because you didn’t love me anymore,” he said softly. “I thought that was the only way you could walk away. That you’d stopped feeling anything for me, just like you did for your mother.”
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09:24 Wed, Feb 11
The End Of a Marriage
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
