All Chapters of Never Mine To Love: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

River's Pov.The fire had died down hours ago.Dinner had turned into dessert—two kinds of pie, a tray of brownies, and someone’s lumpy attempt at homemade fudge that still disappeared because no one wanted to hurt Aunt Lydia’s feelings. After dessert came games.The loud, silly kind only families can get away with—charades that turned into full-blown performances, two truths and a lie that had Uncle Ben confessing he once dated a soap opera star, and guess-that-uncle stories where everyone roasted each other with the kind of love that only came after years of shared holidays and weird traditions.Laughter filled the cabin. Someone nearly fell off their chair from laughing too hard, and someone else was doubled over on the floor, wheezing about the “moose opera” impression that would go down in family history.I smiled and played along. I even laughed until my stomach hurt.But when the third round of impersonations came around, someone mimicking a singing moose with way too much com

River's Pov.I stood there for a long time. Maybe minutes. Maybe longer. I wasn’t sure. The world felt far away. My hands were cold, the tips of my fingers stiff. My breath came out white in the air, curling around me like smoke.But I didn’t feel it.Not the cold.Not the tightness in my chest.Not even the shaking that had started somewhere deep inside me and wouldn’t stop.I just stood there and watched the ambulance drive away. Red lights flashing, tires crunching over gravel, the sound of the engine low and steady. Like it knew where it was going. Like it had done this before. Like this was routine.But it wasn’t routine for me.Daniel had climbed into the back without a word, his face pale and drawn. Olivia followed with Luciana who was sobbing, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. She looked back once—at the cabin, I think, not at me.Elliot had been already inside. A thin mask over his face. Tubes. Straps. Blankets pulled up to his chin. He looked small in that big ambulan

River's POV.Ethan's wet hair flopped over his forehead, sticking to his skin in dark, shiny strands. He blinked at us, confused and dripping, like we were the ones who had burst into his life uninvited. Water rolled down his chin, slid across his bare shoulders, and disappeared under the edge of a towel that looked about one sneeze away from giving up.“River!” he gasped, stumbling back a step. His voice was a mix of shock, guilt, and that same dramatic flair he’d never grown out of. “You—you can't just walk in! What is wrong with you?!”“I live here!” I said, flinging a hand up to shield my eyes. Not that it helped. That image was burned in. “You don’t!”“I do now!”“What?”“I moved in!”I squinted at him like I’d heard wrong. “Since when?!”He flung a damp hand toward the duffle bag lying in the middle of the living room like a wounded animal that had dragged itself to the couch to die. “Since twenty minutes ago!”I blinked. My brain tried to catch up. “You moved in while showering

Daniel’s POVI stared at the message on my phone like it might disappear if I blinked too hard.Can we talk?Four small words.They looked harmless, sitting there in that little text bubble. Just a question. Just an invitation. But for me, they felt like a storm. Everything inside me had gone quiet the second I typed them out. Like I had exhaled something I didn’t realize I’d been holding in for so long.I hovered over the send button.My thumb shook.I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be ready.But I tapped send anyway.As soon as I did, my stomach twisted. The cold feeling started in my hands, then spread. Like someone had cracked open my chest and let winter pour in.I dropped the phone on the counter. Couldn’t bear to keep looking at it. I turned away, walked into the bedroom slowly, feeling like each step cost something. Something invisible and heavy.I stood by the dresser for a long time, just staring at the clothes inside. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t even remember what I us

Daniel’s POV I sat behind the wheel, parked just two blocks from the café, staring out the windshield like maybe I’d catch a glimpse of River walking away. But he didn’t come back. And I didn’t go after him.The rain had stopped.But inside me, something still poured. Slowly. Quietly. Like sorrow sinking deep into the cracks.I had done what I came to do.I ended it.Not because I stopped caring.But because I cared too much.Because loving him made me feel alive. And broken. All at once.I didn’t know how to hold that in my hands anymore.I didn’t drive home right away. I didn’t feel ready to face the quiet in that house, or the way Olivia would look at me and ask questions with her eyes. I didn’t feel ready to sit with Luciana’s gentle voice or pass Elliot’s room and wonder if he still dreamed of that night.So I drove. Aimlessly. Nowhere special.The roads were wet but empty. My wipers swiped across the glass with a tired rhythm. Streetlights blinked gold on the pavement, casting