Erc's POVNight had long since settled by the time I finally got Rose to sleep. It had taken longer than usual as she was restless, fighting her own tiredness the way toddlers often did, her small fingers clutching at my shirt.“Err-ick, stay,” she had whispered, half-asleep, her curls brushing my chin.“I’m right here, angel,” I’d murmured, rubbing her back in gentle circles.Her breath had eventually evened out, her tiny fist loosening, her body sinking into the comfort of my arms. I held her for a long minute before laying her gently onto the bed, pulling her blanket that she had grown to love up to her shoulders.I sat at the edge of her bed for a few minutes, watching her chest rise and fall.My thoughts, as always, drifted to Bella. They always did. It had been two years since our marriage fell apart. Two years since I let her walk away, broken by my own cowardice, my mother’s suffocating presence, and the poisonous assumptions she’d been fed.Two years since I watched the best
Last Updated : 2025-12-17 Read more