Chapter 189: Broken her
Rhys struggled to find the right words, his voice strained with emotion. "I’m sorry, Beatrix. I never meant for any of this to happen. I thought I could protect you, keep you safe from the darkness that consumed me. But I only ended up dragging you deeper into it."
He reached out a trembling hand, wanting to comfort her, but she flinched away, her pain too raw to bear his touch. He let his hand fall, his own tears mingling with hers on the cold floor.
"I understand if you can’t forgive me," Rhys said, his voice barely a whisper. "I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I don’t deserve your love. But please know that everything I did, I did out of a twisted sense of justice. I thought I was avenging my own suffering, but in the process, I caused you unimaginable pain."
Beatrix turned to him, her eyes filled with a mixture of anguish and longing. "Rhys, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you. The betrayal cuts too deep. But I can’t deny the love I felt for you, and that love is what makes this hurt so much."
She took a step closer, her voice trembling with vulnerability.
"You and me." Beatrix swallowed nervously; she was almost afraid to ask, but she had to know.
"Was any of it real?"
Rhys stilled, and she held his breath, hoping, praying...
"No.I just guess I loved the idea of being loved by you more than I loved you.
Beatrix felt her heart shatter into a million tiny pieces, as if the world around her had suddenly crumbled. She stared at Rhys, her eyes welling up with tears, struggling to comprehend his words. It was as if the air had been sucked out of the room, leaving her gasping for breath.
The weight of his admission pressed down on her, threatening to consume her fragile hopes and dreams. Her voice trembled as she spoke, each word escaping her lips with a mixture of disbelief and pain. "But... but what about all those late-night conversations? The laughter we shared, the moments we cherished together... Were they all just... meaningless?"
Rhys averted his gaze, unable to meet her eyes. His hands trembled, and he clenched them into fists, struggling to find the right words to explain his actions. "I never meant to hurt you, Beatrix," he whispered, his voice strained. "But in the midst of our connection, I got caught up in the idea of love. I wanted to believe that what we had was real, but deep down, I knew it wasn’t."