Chapter 76

XANDER POV

I have experienced loss before.

I have seen what it does to someone, to the heart, and to the soul. I have seen people losing themselves inside the deep abyss of grief and pain, wondering if they will ever get back to their old selves without the missing piece of their lives. I have seen how grief tears them to shreds and leaves their souls to bleed.

But in a history of grief, I have never seen pain so raw and cruel.

I was watching from the front row when Leigh-Ari recovered from losing her unborn baby. She spiraled down the abyss of control where she tried, by all means, to keep her head above water because she was afraid that if she let it slip, for a split second, if she let go of that control she had in her grasp, she was going to break. I watched as she clung to the only things in front of her, then built herself until she was this giant badass bitch on top of the world. A phoenix rising from the deep black and cold ashes.

I saw how she handled the pain that was infli