Aiden's POV
I didn’t know how to face her.
Standing in the doorway of her hospital room, my breath turned to stone in my throat. The beeping monitors, the sterile scent of antiseptic, the dim glow of the bedside lamp—it all felt distant, unreal. But nothing was more harrowing than the sight of Elena.
She was awake. Hollow. Her face was pale, her cheekbones sharper than I remembered, her eyes red and swollen. When she met my gaze, there was no recognition. No warmth. Just devastation, raw and unbearable. And I was the reason why.
I wanted to turn back, to disappear into the hall and let the weight of my sins crush me somewhere she couldn’t see. But I owed her this. I owed her more than an apology, more than my shame. I owed her every broken piece of me.
Steeling myself, I stepped insid
