Chapter 24: I know how...
With a soul-searching gaze, Tryson fixed his eyes on Angel, and for the first time in a long while, he truly saw her—not just the woman he once knew, but the one forged by pain and heartbreak.
It was as if every moment of her suffering had etched itself into her eyes, and he could no longer ignore the truth that haunted him: Her scars, the weight of her past, had been shaped by his own hands, by his own failure to be there when she needed him the most.
The knowledge that his absence had not only allowed her pain to fester but had worsened it with his reckless decisions was suffocating.
He could hardly breathe under the crushing weight of that realization.
If only I had been there. If only I hadn’t let her slip through my fingers...
The guilt gnawed at him as he shifted his gaze downward, trying to escape the intensity of her stare, the raw vulnerability in her eyes.
With a ragged breath, he finally spoke, the words heavy and filled with a sense of desperate resolution.
"I understand the pain you’re feeling, Angel, but believe me, I am determined to make amends for everything that has transpired."
Angel looked at him with an expression caught somewhere between sorrow and disbelief.
Her voice, soft but firm, trembled as she replied, "Why, Tryson? Why now? What makes you believe that I would want you back in my life? You were the one who allowed me to be broken, left me to pick up the pieces alone, and now you’re asking for forgiveness? I have changed. I have found someone who truly sees me, who cherishes me in ways you never did. You..." Her voice cracked, a tear threatening to fall as her words dissolved into silence, the ache in her chest overwhelming her.
The room, once full of tension, was now suffocating with an unbearable quiet.