[Lucien]
I sank to my knees.
“Violet.”
That was all I could say. Just her name as I watched her turn her back on me. She was gone. This time, there was no doubt about it.
I sat there like an i***t, eyes boring into her back like she might come back. Like she might realise she’d gone too far and run into my arms, crying, screaming and hitting me for being a fool. And once again—even if it would be the last time, I would receive her forgiveness.
But that didn’t happen.
My hands were shaking. I didn’t want them to. I didn’t want to look this weak. I didn’t want to be this weak. But it was happening anyway, like I had no say in it anymore. I clawed my fingers into the hardwood, shoulders shaking with breaths I couldn’t hold steady. I didn’t cry. I couldn’t. Whatever part of me used to
