Chapter 22
The days felt like a blur after the retreat, each one dragging with an undercurrent of tension that Sydney couldn't shake. Alan had pulled away, as she knew he would, and the distance between them was suffocating. She couldn't even bring herself to speak to him, knowing that any conversation would only deepen the rift. His pain was clear, but the guilt gnawed at her, twisting her insides. She had pushed him away, unable to face the consequences of her choices. The weight of the decision she had to make—whether to forgive her mother or walk away from Alan—was crushing. And yet, there was something else. Sydney knew it, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself. The affair with Alan... it had started as revenge. Revenge for being abandoned by her mother when she was kidnapped, left to
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