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Chapter_156
Whitney’s breath caught as Ludwik’s words struck her heart with a force she hadn’t expected. The raw emotion in his voice crashed over her like a wave, leaving her breathless. His touch, feverish and desperate, still lingered on her lips—a heady mix of heat, sorrow, and longing. She pulled away, trembling, struggling to steady herself.
“Why can’t I? What happened to us?” His voice was thick with the haze of alcohol, but the emotion behind it was so raw, so desperate, that it shattered her.
She didn’t know how to answer him. How could she explain the tangle of truths and lies, the family secrets, the hurt that had built up between them? Everything felt so impossibly complicated. She had once believed love could heal all wounds, but now, she wasn’t so sure.
She met his gaze. His eyes, burning with fever, searched hers with a pain that mirrored her own. The man who had once been so cold, so unreachable, now seemed fragile—vulnerable in a way she had never seen before. He wasn’t the untouchable figure of her past anymore. He was just a man, lost and hurting, just like her.
“You’re wrong,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “I haven’t grown distant from you. It’s… it’s everything else that’s driving us apart.”
His eyes softened slightly, though the storm inside them still raged. “Everything else? Whitney, I know I’m not perfect. I’ve made my mistakes. But I’ve never lied to you. You have to believe that. I… I can’t lose you.”
The ache in his words pierced her chest, making it hard to breathe. She longed to reach out to him, to tell him everything—how much she loved him, how much she feared losing him, how she hated the secrets that had torn them apart. But the truth was a cruel thing, and if she told him what she knew, it might destroy everything between them.
She was caught between the man she loved and the family that had always been there for her. And in this moment, with Ludwik before her, vulnerable and desperate, she couldn’t make that choice.
His grip on her tightened, his breath warm and ragged against her skin. “Please, don’t push me away. You think I don’t know what you’re hiding? I can see it in your eyes. But you don’t have to face this alone.”
His words pierced through the walls she’d built around her heart, and her eyes filled with tears again. How had it come to this? She had never imagined it would be this painful, this heartbreaking. She wanted to trust him, to believe that they could face everything together. But the shadows of the past were too long, too powerful.
With a shaky breath, Whitney leaned in, resting her forehead against his. “I don’t know if I can. I’m so afraid of losing everything, Ludwik. What if the truth destroys us both?”
There was a moment of silence, filled only by the sound of his shallow breaths. Then Ludwik cupped her cheek gently, his thumb brushing away a tear that had slipped down her face.
“You don’t have to carry that burden alone,” he whispered, his voice steady with quiet resolve. “We’ll face it together. No matter what comes, I’m not letting you go.”
And for the first time in days, Whitney allowed herself to believe—just for a moment—that maybe, just maybe, there was a way forward.
