Chapter 272
Chapter 272:
Kade nodded, his expression grim. The guards seized Isabelle’s arms and started pulling her toward the door. She didn’t fight. She just stared at me, one last flicker of pain in her eyes before she was gone.
As the door closed behind her, I sagged against the desk, my chest tight and my head pounding. Ace was silent now, lost in the storm of emotions neither of us could untangle.
Maybe I wasn’t the saint I wanted to be. But I’d protect Jasmine—no matter the cost.
Even if it meant living with the ghosts of the people I’d destroyed along the way.
Isabelle’s POV
Why are you all staring at me?
Do you think I’m the devil?
No, I’m not. Ryder fucking is.
The guards’ hands tightened around my arms, the cold bite of the shackles scraping against my wrists, but I barely felt it. Pain like this was nothing compared to the searing agony burning in my chest. My throat was raw from holding back screams, my eyes still wet, but there were no more tears left. Not for them. Not for him.
They all looked at me with disgust. As if I were the monster here. Maybe I was. But they didn’t see the story that led to this moment. They didn’t live through the fifteen goddamn years that shaped me into this.
Ryder stood there, his eyes filled with judgment, with hatred, as if he didn’t recognize the role he played in creating me. And maybe he didn’t. Maybe his perfect, calculated mind was incapable of looking back, of understanding how he carved this path and forced me to walk it.
The guards started pulling me toward the door, but I refused to be dragged like some pathetic, broken thing. I straightened my spine and walked. If I was going down, I was going with my head held high. But as I passed Ryder, I stopped. My voice came out low, icy, and bitter.
“You think I’m the villain, Ryder? You think I’m evil because I wanted her gone?” I laughed, hollow and brittle. “You made me this way. You took the best parts of me and crushed them under your boot p>
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His jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak. Good. I didn’t want to hear his justifications or his cold, detached reasoning. I wanted to burn him with the truth he refused to see.
“I gave you everything,” my voice trembled, and I hated that it did. “My love, my loyalty, my body, my soul. And what did you give me in return? Cold indifference. A hollow promise of a future that you shattered the second she walked into your life p>
His eyes flickered, something like guilt flashing across his face, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough to make up for what he’d done.
“You weren’t always the cold, ruthless Alpha. There was a time when you needed me, when I was the only thing keeping you from falling apart.” My breath shook. “I was there when your world crumbled. I held you together, I let you lean on me, and I gave you my heart, believing you’d protect it p>
I stepped closer, my voice dropping to a whisper that cut like glass. “Instead, you shattered it. You looked at me like I was nothing. You threw away fifteen years as if they meant nothing p>
I couldn’t stop the memories from crashing into me — memories of whispered promises, of nights spent holding him while he trembled with rage or grief. I’d given him everything I had. I’d loved him fiercely, blindly, stupidly. And he repaid me with this: betrayal, dismissal, and finally, disgust.
“I was your first,” I hissed, the words like poison on my tongue. “I gave you a part of me that I can never get back. And you used it. You used me.” My chest ached, my breath shuddering. “I spent years convincing myself that if I just stayed by your side, if I just proved myself, you’d see me. You’d love me the way I loved you p>