If only she’d called an hour earlier, then maybe it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. Maybe he wouldn’t have snapped at her or wouldn’t have said those things. Those awful, calculated things he knew would crush her.
But Ravyn didn’t know the timing, and Kade didn’t feel the need to explain. He’d already convinced himself she’d be better off without him.
He was still breathing hard, pacing his room like a man possessed, the effort to stay cruel during that phone call physically tearing at him. His ribs burned, his jaw throbbed from the hits he took earlier, and his lungs felt too tight in his chest.
He’d held himself together long enough to hang up. Long enough to make sure she wouldn’t come looking for him. Long enough to make her believe she meant nothing.
But inside? He was al
