This sentence struck me like an arrow shot from the shadows, piercing straight through my heart.
I froze, utterly stunned.
That night five years ago—all of it. I had believed he would remember, that he wouldn't dismiss it with such cold indifference. Yet he… had no recollection whatsoever.
Chaos churned in my mind, my smile frozen stiff as stone. I tried to speak, but my throat felt clogged, no sound emerging.
I sprang to my feet, palms damp with sweat. My breath came in gasps, my heart pounding as if it would burst from my chest. What right did I have to bring up events from five years ago? As a woman who'd shared a night with him, who had clung on relentlessly? No—I wouldn't allow myself to stoop that low. Pride stood like a wall in me, unyielding, too solid to retreat even an inch.
