I tried to keep my expression neutral, but the sight of her tears made my chest tighten in a way I didn’t expect. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen her cry before, but this felt different. This felt like genuine regret, even if I wasn’t sure I could trust it.
“Sarah, you crossed a line,” I said, my voice steady, though my heart felt heavier with every word. “You can’t just worm your way into Charlie’s life like that. You can’t—”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted, stepping closer to me. There was desperation in her tone, her voice breaking with the weight of the apology. “But it’s because of you. I’ve always cared about you, Ram. I thought if I could just get close to Charlie if I could just show him that I wanted to be a part of his life, that you would see that I wasn’t just some... some str
