Chapter 23
By the time they left the supermarket, the rain had stopped.
Aurora and Lucien Hale walked side by side beneath a clearing sky, each carrying bags of groceries, chatting in quiet ease. The air smelled fresh, and the wind had the soft, crisp scent of wet leaves.
But the moment Aurora looked up and caught sight of the man standing at the foot of her apartment building, her smile
froze.
She stopped walking.
That tall, far-too-familiar figure shouldn’t have been here. Couldn’t have been here.
And yet… there he was.
Sterling.
He had come.
Lucien, always sensitive to her mood, noticed her sudden stillness. His gaze followed hers-and his brows drew together the moment he spotted the man waiting ahead.
He didn’t ask anything. He merely shifted a step closer and instinctively positioned himself between them.
Sterling had imagined this moment a thousand times on the flight over.
He had told himself, as long as he could see her again, everything would be worth it. The guilt, the sleepless nights, the hollow ache in his chest-it would all ease the moment she stood before him.
But when she did-when she appeared with another man by her side-his heart twisted violently.
He strode toward them.
Lucien’s stance shifted slightly, an unspoken warning in his eyes.
“Who are you?” Lucien asked calmly, his tone polite but firm.
Sterling’s jaw clenched. “That’s my question. Who are you?”
Tension cracked between them like static. But Sterling forced himself to rein it in.
His voice, when he finally spoke again, was low. “Aurora…”
Lucien turned to her. “Do you know him?”
Aurora nodded, her expression unreadable.
“Do you want me to walk you home?”
“I’m fine,” she said quietly, her voice composed. “Let’s not waste time on him.”
She took a step, as if to leave.
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“Aurora, please-can we talk?”
Sterling’s voice stopped her.
Just for a heartbeat.
Lucien hesitated, then looked down at the bags in his arms. “He doesn’t look like he’ll leave without a conversation. I’l wait just ahead. If anything feels off, call me.”
Aurora gave a faint nod.
Lucien stepped away-but not far. He stood within view, his gaze never straying from her.
Sterling watched it all in silence, his chest tightening.
They hadn’t even spared him a glance. He felt like a stranger-like an intruder in a story that no longer had a place for him.
Aurora finally turned to him. “Sterling,” she said, her voice cool and distant, “we have nothing left to say.”
“You chose Scarlet. Don’t come here digging up the past.”
Her words cut like ice.
Sterling stood frozen.
In his memory, Aurora’s voice had always been soft. Gentle. Always wrapped in warmth, even when she was hurt.
He had never heard her like this before.
“I was wrong,” he said hoarsely. “I was blind-literally and metaphorically. I didn’t recognize you, and I didn’t listen when I
should’ve. I know that now.”
“I know you’re still angry. You have every right to be. But Scarlet has already paid for what she did. Everything she did to you, I’ve made her suffer for it-tenfold. And I’ll keep going until I’ve erased every wound she ever gave you.”
“I just…” His voice cracked. “I just want you back.”
Aurora said nothing for a long time.
She looked at him-really looked at him-and something in his chest tightened further.
Because her gaze wasn’t angry. It wasn’t cruel. It was just… empty.
That terrified him more than hatred ever could.
“You know,” she began slowly, “I fell in love with you when I was still in high school.”
“The days we spent together… they were some of the happiest moments of my life. So happy, in fact, that sometimes I
wondered if it was all a dream.”
“I kept hoping you’d recognize me by instinct. That you’d remember the way I held your hand, the way I laughed. That maybe, even once, you’d give me a single minute to explain.”
Chapter 23
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“But you didn’t.”
Sterling’s lips parted, but nothing came out.
“I’ve moved on,” she said softly. “What’s in the past… let it stay there.”
“Aurora-please-”
“I don’t love you anymore.”
The words landed like a final verdict.
“I loved you once. Truly. But now? I don’t. And I won’t again. So please… don’t look for me anymore.”
She turned. And walked away.
Sterling stood motionless, as if rooted to the pavement, watching her retreat toward Lucien Hale-who met her with a concerned look and took the groceries from her arms without a word.
He watched them disappear into the building, side by side.
And then the cold settled in.
It seeped into his bones. Deeper than wind, harsher than rain.
He had flown across oceans, broken every rule of pride he’d ever known.
But she had stood before him and said, calmly and without hesitation-I don’t love you anymore.
And this time…
She meant it.
