Chapter 23
Ryder’s POV
My mind went completely blank.
For all these f*****g years, I always thought Henry Davis had taken everything from me. Her smile. Her attention. Her first love. Her future. And her innocence.
That belief had poisoned me for so long that I had accepted it as a bitter fact. I thought I had lost completely before I even had the chance to fight.
But now—looking at the truth with my own eyes—that belief shattered into a million pieces.
Mary was never his. Not completely. Not in the way that had haunted my nightmares every single night.
A strange sensation spread through my chest. An ache so intense it almost felt like pain, mixed with an unexpected rush of absolute victory.
I looked down at her flushed, innocent face. "Do you have any idea what you've just done to
