Chapter 355

Chapter 355:

Isabelle POV

The walls of the dungeon were cold, much like the emotions that had settled in my chest since the moment I was thrown in here. Every breath I took scraped against the sharp edges of regret and bitterness that I couldn’t seem to shake.

But could you blame me?

Could anyone blame me for being bitter?

You don’t give someone your heart, your soul, your body—your everything—only to have them tear it apart like it was nothing. Ryder had been my world, my hope, the one person I believed would never leave me. He took everything from me, piece by piece, until there was nothing left but a hollow shell of who I used to be.

And then, as if destroying me wasn’t enough, he found someone else. Someone to replace me.

That thought twisted in my chest, a sharp knife that never stopped cutting. Jasmine. Saint Jasmine. The mate, the salvation, the one who swooped in and became everything I never was.

But even through all the bitterness, through all the hatred I carried like a second skin, there was one undeniable truth clawing at the edges of my mind.

I went too far.

Endangering Jasmine, putting her in the middle of my war with Ryder—it was wrong. I knew it. I knew the second I saw the fear in her eyes, the pain I caused, the wreckage I left in my wake. I wanted to destroy Ryder, to make him feel the same misery I had endured, but I crossed a line. A line I could never uncross.

And now, locked away in this depressing dungeon, all I had was time. Time to sit with my actions. Time to stew in my regrets. Time to realize that, no matter how justified I felt in my hatred for Ryder, Jasmine didn’t deserve to be a casualty of our war. She had been through enough.

The rumors that trickled down here painted a bleak picture. Jasmine was pregnant, they said. Ryder was desperate to protect her, they said. And for the first time, I didn’t feel the usual spark of jealousy or bitterness. I felt something else entirely.

Pity.

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The weight of my actions pressed heavier on me with every passing day. I had to make this right. Not for Ryder. Not for myself. But for Jasmine.

When I heard the distant sound of footsteps echoing down the stone hallway, my heart clenched. I sat up straighter, wrapping my arms around myself as the guards unlocked the heavy iron door.

“Ryder,” one of them announced, stepping aside as he entered.

He didn’t look at me right away. His broad shoulders were tense, his jaw tight, his eyes shadowed with something unreadable. When his gaze finally landed on me, it was cold.

But it wasn’t the anger that startled me. It was the exhaustion.

This wasn’t the Ryder I remembered. This wasn’t the man who had once held me close, whispered promises in the dark, and made me believe I was his world. This was someone else entirely.

“Isabelle,” he said, his voice flat. “You wanted to see me p>

The words caught in my throat, tangled with the bitterness and regret I couldn’t quite swallow. I clenched my fists, forcing myself to meet his gaze.

“Yes,” I said, my voice steadier than I expected. “I need to talk to you p>