Page 52 of Beautiful Scars

I start to tremble as his arm reaches out for me across the bar. There's a haunted look in his eyes that squeezes my heart. My hand lifts in response, reaching out for him the way it used to. The moment our fingers touch, a piece of something inside of me breaks wide open.

I'm crushed under the weight of remembering—overwhelmed by the memory of his leaving—every broken promise, every lie, every tear and every scar. It's too much. The pain is devastating as it barrels over me, and before he has a chance to say anything, I back away, yanking my hand out of reach.

“What the fuck?” Zane’s voice is confused and concerned as he looks from me to Levi and back to me again. His voice cuts through the haze and pulls me back into the present. "Angel? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

I shake my head, but can't look up at him. I am definitely not okay. I have never been less okay. I want to scream it into his face, but I can't. The words are stuck in my throat. I'm frozen in place and I'm not even sure I’m breathing anymore. My fingers shake uncontrollably, and I lose my grip on the bottle I’m holding. It falls to the floor and shatters. The sound is deafening in the silence that’s formed around us.

My body moves before my mind can catch up. I turn on my heel and break for the door. Each step I take vibrates through me and I feel as if I might shatter, but I can’t stop. I have to get out of here—away from the heaviness of his stare. Away from the memories threatening to swallow me, destroy me.

The door is within reach when I glance back. Levi hasn't moved. He’s standing frozen at the edge of the bar, his face a mask of unbearable pain and something impossibly worse. It makes my chest ache in ways I thought I’d never feel again.

Our eyes meet, and the air between us turns electric. My legs nearly buckle, but I force them to keep moving. I push through the door, stumbling out, my heart pounding in my ears. I need out.

I can’t look back again. If I do, I know it will break me.

But before the door swings shut, I hear it—strangled words, broken and raw—ripped from somewhere deep inside of him.

"Sunny! Please!”

The sound follows me, as I run.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Levi

Myworldstopsthemoment I see her face.

Seven years of carefully constructed reality splinters in the space between heartbeats leaving me breathless. The bass from the speakers thuds against my skull, but I can't hear it over the roaring in my ears. Because she's standing right here. In front of me. Breathing. Whole.Alive.

My hands find the bar's edge, gripping it until my knuckles turn white. The polished wooden surface is the only solid thing left in a world that's suddenly liquid, unstable.

Angel. The nickname I gave her that day under the tree. The day everything started. The day I set us both on this path.

The room tilts dangerously as she bolts. "Sunny! Please!" The words tear from my throat, but she's already gone. It's too late.

Please come back. Please come back.The words echo through my head, a desperate prayer to a god I stopped believing in the night I found her broken body on her bedroom floor. Except she wasn't dead. She wasn't fucking dead.

The truth slams into me, burying me under its weight. Every kill I've ordered, every drop of blood I've spilled, every brick of the empire I've built – all of it was founded on her death. On justice. On vengeance.

My chest constricts, lungs forgetting how to pull in air. The core memory I've spent years trying to forget claws its way to the surface—her blood on my hands, the weight of her limp body in my arms, forcing myself to walk away. I left instead of checking one more time. One more fucking time.

The watching crowd blurs at the edges of my vision. My men's confused murmurs mix with the whispers of the dancers, creating a suffocating cocoon of sound. No one moves. They're all caught in this moment, watching me fall apart under the weight of a truth too heavy to bear.

I feel Zane's presence before I see him—his stare burning into me as he moves closer. Seven years of brotherhood built on a foundation of lies. His eyes dart between me and the door where Sunny disappeared.

"Levi." The way he says my name is careful, measured, like he's talking to an injured, cornered animal. "What the fuck just happened?"

A broken, strangled laugh escapes from my throat. "That was Sunny." Her name cuts like shards of glass after all this time. "My Sunny."

"Your Sunny?" Wolf's voice sounds distant, confused. "But she—"

"I thought she was dead." The words rip out of me. My grip on control keeps slipping, unleashing memories I've fought for years to keep buried. "This isn't possible."

The room falls dead quiet. Seven years of unquestioning loyalty hang in the balance as my men watch their leader come apart at the seams. I can feel their eyes on me but I can't look at them. Can't face the questions I know are forming.

"You need to explain." Colt's voice cuts through the silence. "Now."

But there aren't any explanations that will make this right. No words that can justify seven years of revenge built on half-truths.

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