Amara’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as she absorbed his slow, measured confession.

Her mind flashed back to a few days ago, when Liliana had paraded her past all those memory-laden spots.

Liliana had gloated about how wonderfully Finnian had treated her. Though he was swamped with work and their dates were brief, if Liliana ever wanted to extend their time together, Finnian would willingly push his schedule just to keep her company.

At the time, Amara had been intensely jealous.

During their three years of marriage, Finnian had never once come home. Yet, back when he was dating Liliana, he easily shelved his work just for her. The sheer disparity in how he treated them was painfully glaring.

But now, Finnian was claiming that his devotion to Liliana had entirely been an act of repayment.

So delaying his work for Liliana had merely been a way to clear his debt.

But what about that hug just days ago? He had embraced Liliana in the hospital room—was that just to repay a debt, too?

Amara found the logic deeply ironic. A faint, cold smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.

She quickly masked it, but not fast enough to escape Finnian’s notice.

“What are you smiling at?” he asked.

He instinctively reached out, tipping her chin upward to read her expression. Amara slapped his hand away. “Why are you telling me all this? What’s your goal?”

Her icy rejection struck a painful chord. “Why do you think I came looking for you?” he replied, his voice strained. “I love you so much, and I want to be with you so desperately. Ama, tell me, why do you think I’m here?”

He forced her to meet his gaze, delivering every word with intense conviction. His stare was so scorching that Amara’s heart trembled.

Refusing to meet his eyes any longer, she shoved him away and took two steps back, lowering her head to veil the emotional turbulence swimming in her eyes.

“Finnian, maybe what you’re saying is the truth, but I genuinely don’t want to be with you anymore. Sa what if you don’t love Liliana That has nothing to do with me. You should try finding someone else.”

Did he really harbor absolutely zero romantic feelings for Liliana? Amara figured that

he probably didn’t love her in the conventional sense.

But the fact that he could still hold her in that hospital room proved he maintained some tangled, complicated affection for her. The mere thought of it suffocated Amara with sorrow.

She refused to hurl herself back into the fiery pit that was Finnian Everly, which meant she had to reject him with absolute finality.

Seeing the unyielding resolve in her eyes felt like a knife twisting in Finnian’s chest. “Do you really feel nothing for me anymore? Is it because of Keith?”

Reflecting on their past, Finnian had always sensed that the old Amara had loved him deeply.

After all, she had relentlessly delivered homemade lunches to his office for three straight years. She had bought him countless gifts and kept him constantly in her thoughts.

In all fairness, Amara had sacrificed an immense amount for him.

He firmly believed she must have been wildly in love with him to do all those things. Even later, when she willingly saved his life and chose t keep the baby, it had to have been driven by lingering affection.

But now, she was shutting him out with brutal determination.

There was a saying: the only two ways to forget an old love are time and a new flame.

At the very least, she still had

feelings for him four months ago Four months was hardly an eternity, meaning she hadn’t forgotten hi due to the passage of time had to be a new man.