Chapter 217\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
He exhaled slowly, eyes dark with regret. \u201cEllie\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted you to want me,\u201d I whispered. \u201cI wanted to be enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
These were thoughts that I never meant to say out loud, especially not to him. It felt like a defeat to admit to him how much his indifference had hurt me. His cruel words had been better, at least then he\u2019d been acknowledging\u00a0<\/p>\n
The music kept playing, but it was only sound now \u2013 a soft pulse under the weight of my confession.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nolan\u2019s fingers brushed the small of my back, tentative, reverent. \u201cYou were enough. You\u2019ve always been enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed, the sound brittle. \u201cThen why did you push me away?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He hesitated, and for a long moment I thought he wouldn\u2019t answer. Then his voice dropped, almost breaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I couldn\u2019t let myself feel it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I did \u2013 if I let myself want you \u2014 it would\u2019ve been the end of everything I\u2019d promised.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My breath caught. \u201cPromised who?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t have to ask. I knew he was talking about her, but I needed to hear him say it. I needed him to put it all out so that I could finally know the truth. I needed to know, so that I could accept how we ended up at this point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He met my gaze, and for the first time that night, there was no mask. No Alpha, no politician. Just a man unraveling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFelicity,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cI made her a promise years before I met you \u2013 that no matter what happened between us, I wouldn\u2019t love anyone else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The words hit me like a blow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought that I was ready to hear them, but I was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He saw the flicker of pain cross my face and pressed on, voice thick. \u201cI thought keeping that promise was the only way to honor her. She saved me once \u2013 from my father, from myself. I\u2019owed her everything. So when I started to\u2026. care for you, I panicked. I told myself I couldn\u2019t give in to it. I couldn\u2019t betray that promise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My chest ached so sharply it was almost physical. \u201cSo you punished me instead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He flinched. \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to. I was trying to punish myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tears burned behind my eyes. Not from anger or from hurt, but from grief. Grief for what we could have had if we\u2019d just known how to meet each other halfway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did both.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He exhaled, closing his eyes briefly. \u201cI know. And I can\u2019t take it back. But I want you to know that it wasn\u2019t because I didn\u2019t want you. I did. Every day. That\u2019s what made it so unbearable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know what to say. My mind felt full of static \u2013 too many emotions at once, too much pain layered over years of confusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked down, unable to meet his eyes. \u201cYou could have told me that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know how,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t\u2026 raised to know how to love without hurting something. I\u2019m not trying to make an excuse, I\u2019m just trying to explain. There wasn\u2019t anything that you did wrong to cause me to act like that, I was just\u2026 broken.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 211\u00a0<\/p>\n
My lip trembled. \u201cAnd now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow,\u201d he said softly, \u201cI\u2019m trying to learn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
The song ended, but neither of us moved. The world was st the firelight flickering across his face, the faint echo of laughter somewhere behind us, the twin shadows their bodies made on the cobblestones.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, I took a slow step back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if I can forgive you for that,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t expect you to,\u201d he answered. \u201cBut I needed you to know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My voice was small. \u201cWhy now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you deserve the truth,\u201d he said simply. \u201cEven if it changes nothing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I swallowed hard. \u201cIt changes everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He reached for me. I wanted to pull back, to smack his hand away, to tell him off. I didn\u2019t. I let his hand close gently over my wrist and when he pulled I moved to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His arms wrapped around me securely and I let myself be held in an awkward, stiff hug.\u00a0<\/p>\n
45\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if you never forgive me, I\u2019m going to spend the rest of my life doing whatever I can to make it up to you. My issues, my struggles\u2026 they weren\u2019t your responsibility. But I still put it all on you. It was wrong. I\u2019m so sorry, Ellie. I hope that one day you believe that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I brought my hands up slowly and touched his back, feeling his warmth as I leaned in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
D\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cold Marriage That Turned Warm 217 Chapter 217\u00a0 +25 Bonus\u00a0 He exhaled slowly, eyes dark with regret. \u201cEllie\u2026\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-unremembered-mate-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}