<b>Chapter </b><b>260 </b>


    At my words, Jared froze for a moment. Then, it was like something inside him just shattered. His eyes, which used. to shine so brightly, suddenly went dull–like a sparkling gem cracked, all the light gone in an instant. He just stared,pletely stunned.


    I didn’t know what kind of impact he was feeling inside, and honestly, I didn’t care anymore.


    Jared said, “You must be joking, right?”


    In his eyes, I was simply the well–behaved woman my parents had trained to mind every rule. He never thought I


    would walk away, and even after the divorce, he clung to the illusion that I’d eventuallye back.


    Men could be so arrogant, refusing to see the truth. It took me crushing that smug certainty beneath my heel for


    him to realize no one waited forever.


    Ryan came over to my side and said, “Victoria, I brought you some breakfast.”


    “That’s sweet of you, Ryan. Just have a seat for a bit, okay? I need to talk to him alone,” I replied softly. The next


    second, I spun around and headed for the door.


    Jared stormed after me, fury written all over his face.


    Before I could even make it to the deserted stairwell, Jared grabbed my wrist and pulled me roughly back to him. My head knocked into his shoulder as he mmed me against the wall, his breath ragged, eyes zing with anger.


    He said, “Victoria, you don’t have to hook up with some guy just to punish me. Please, don’t do this–it’s all my


    fault. I’m begging you, Victoria.”


    I froze. Then I shoved him away with all my strength, trying to snap him out of his fantasy. I fixed my nightgown


    that he’d ripped. Half my pale skin was showing, and Jared just stared at me, dazed.


    I stared calmly out the window and said, “You messed up, but I’m not putting all the me on you–because!


    made mistakes too.”


    Jared clearly hated how detached I sounded when talking about us. When there was no emotion, there was


    nothing left to hope for.


    Honestly, I had already moved on, and I knew exactly where I had messed up. I let out a quiet sigh and turned to


    look at <b>him</b>.


    I said, “You’ve been charging ahead all this time, and I’ve just been standing here, waiting for you. But after all these years, I can’t even catch a glimpse of you anymore. And you and Tracy–it’s been over a year, hasn’t it?”


    Jared’s face turned ghostly pale, his lips pressed together,pletely speechless.


    I went on, “I never grew alongside you. Staying stuck in the same ce was my mistake. I didn’t change at all, and when you came back, all I did was nag about the daily grind–the chores, the bills, the kids crying.


    12:08 Thu, 21 Aug


    “You must’ve gotten tired of me a long time ago.”


    Jared looked at me, stunned, his eyes full ofplicated emotions.


    54%


    I closed my eyes, then opened them again. I said, “Husband and wife are supposed to grow side by side, always finding new things to talk about, always drawing each other in.


    “But I stayed where I was, and Tracy slipped into my ce–with your permission.”


    <b>38 </b>


    Jared rubbed his forehead and said, “Just stop. Now that we know where things went wrong, can’t we try to save this together?”


    I could see he was already losing patience just hearing the truth, so I gave a littleugh. I said, “It’s not that we


    can’t–it’s that it’s impossible now. You know as well as I do: what’s done is done.


    “Once something’s broken, it never goes back to the way it was. Even if we got back together, the cracks would still


    be there.”


    “No, that’s not true,” Jared said, stepping closer as he caught my hand and held it tight in his.


    AD