?Chapter 793:


    She rose and turned without hesitation, walking away while Adah hurried to catch up, her footsteps echoing in the silence Elliana left behind.


    The air inside the booth pulsed with unspoken emotion. An, now alone with Cole, looked utterly lost.


    Cole’s eyes followed Lh as she walked away, his brows drawn tightly together. With every step she took away from him, the knot of panic in his chest tightened. And the moment she vanished beyond the doors of Nightfall, he sprang to his feet and gave chase.


    An opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. With a sigh, he rose and trailed after them.


    Outside, Elliana moved like a storm in retreat,posed on the surface but violent within. Her face was an icy mask, every footfall purposeful and determined. Yet the weight in her chest told a different story. She wasn’t okay. Not even close. Since Cole had erased her from his mind, maybe it was time she let go instead of struggling to jog his memory. She might just let him believe he had never known her at all.


    Tears burned at the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her sleeve, defiant in her grief. But her eyes, already red-rimmed, betrayed her pain.


    Adah caught up quickly, falling into stride beside her. “Don’t be sad, Elliana,” she said gently. “He’s an idiot. If he’s out of your life, good. Let him stay gone. You’ll find someone a hundred times better than him.”


    “I know,” Elliana replied, her stride still quick and purposeful, forcing a smile. But the smile she gave Adah was thin, like a brittle mask stretched over a soul still breaking.


    There was a time Elliana had resisted Cole’s advances, afraid of the impermanence of love, haunted by the certainty that one day she would lose him. But she had been drawn to him helplessly from the first moment she met him. The thought of going through life without ever truly being with him felt like a void she could never fill. So she had given in, loving him with heart and soul, bing his wife in every sense of the word.


    But now it was over. Her heart felt like a cavern, hollow and echoing, the grief so sharp it throbbed like a bruise. Yet she carried no regrets. She had loved. She had lived that love and breathed it deeply. If it was over, then so be it. Time, she told herself, would dull the ache. One day, his name would stop hurting.


    With that thought, Elliana wiped her eyes once more and pressed forward, her footsteps growing steadier, more deliberate.


    Several paces behind, Cole followed at a careful distance, his eyes locked on her. He watched as she lifted a hand to her face to brush away the tears she thought no one saw. And each time she did, it felt like a de twisting deeper into his chest.


    So, it was true then. The way she had flung herself into his car and melted into his arms—it hadn’t been a misunderstanding. She had beening on to him. But now, because of Paige, she was walking away. And the decision was clearly tearing her apart.


    That alone told him everything he needed to know. She wasn’t some flirt ying a game. yers didn’t grieve over a missed chance. To them, it was all part of the chase. Her pain was unmistakably real, which meant her feelings had been real.


    Could she truly care for him that much? Emotions that raw didn’t just surface out of thin air. She must have been watching him for a while, quietly carrying feelings from a distance.


    Then, when had they first…


    Crossed paths? When did she start to develop feelings for him? And why did Paige’s presence unravel everything? A storm of questions crashed through Cole’s mind. He was just about to step forward, ready to demand the truth, when Lh suddenly stopped in her tracks.


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    .<fn90a3> Th?s chapter is updated by fin?novel</fn90a3>