Asher reached through the gaps in the iron gate, trying to touch her hand. Alana stepped back.
That single step was like a sharp blade, cutting away the very last chance between them.
"Asher, what do you want to ask me?" she said, her voice soft. "Are you asking why I'm so cruel, why I've ruined everything for you? Then tell me this, when my mother died, did you ever stop to think how broken I was?"
Asher's lips parted, but no words came out.
"When I knelt by the hospital bed holding my mother, did you stand beside me?" Alana's voice caught, thick with tears. "When you walked out of the church with Sienna, did you look back even once to see me?
"When I lay there bleeding, when our baby was slipping away little by little, did you ever think that was your child too?"
Every questio
