Hazel lay on the bed, her face pale and drawn, still bearing the marks of her recent trauma. Despite the bandages covering her wounds, she looked peaceful as she drifted in and out of sleep, her breath coming in shallow but steady rhythms.
Ace sat beside her, his heart heavy with guilt and regret. He had failed her, left her when she needed him the most, and now she was paying the price. The sight of her lying there, so fragile and vulnerable, tore at him in ways he couldn’t even begin to describe. He knew he should have been stronger, should have stayed by her side, but the truth he carried was too heavy a burden to share. The secrets of their families, the hidden past that connected them in ways neither of them understood, had forced him to make decisions that now haunted him.
As Hazel
