Emily wiped tears from her face, but her words came out hollow. “I never wanted it to come to this. I thought I could manage it—separate lives, separate families. I tried to pull Anna out, but she had already settled in. I couldn’t do it.” Her excuses fell flat, the damage beyond repair.
John’s breath caught in his throat as Emily’s hollow words hung in the air. He couldn’t bear it any longer—the weight of her betrayal, the lies she had been feeding both of them for years. His chest tightened, suffocated by the realization that everything they’d built had been a façade.