Page 105 of Scaled Daddy's Secret Heir

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“I don’t know what I’m supposed to say,” he murmurs. “Nothing makes up for what I did.”

“No,” I say. “It doesn’t.”

“And I won’t ask you to forgive me.”

“Good.”

“But I came back anyway.”

I clench my jaw. “That’s not a clean slate.”

“I’m not asking for one.”

We stare at each other, the kind of stare that digs down to marrow. I can feel my heartbeat in my ears, in my mouth, in myspine. Every part of me is screaming to run, to retreat, to hide what I’ve built—what I’veprotected.

But I can’t look away.

And he doesn’t blink.

We’re eye to eye, and there’s nothing left between us but the sharp edge of everything unsaid.

And the truth Ican’ttell him.

Not yet.

Not while the ground is still this unstable.

Not while we’re still one breath away from collapse.

CHAPTER 33

KALEV

Leah’s eyes flick past me. Just once.

Barely more than a blink.

But it lands sharp, intentional—a glance down the hallway behind her. Quick, clean, uninvited. And then it's gone. She doesn’t look again.

But I clock it.

Her shoulders are too square. Braced. Holding something in place.

Anger is written all over her—real, burning—but it’s scaffolded around something more fragile. And I know better than to go prying. Not here. Not yet.

I shift slightly, just enough to let the wind pass around me, not enough to crowd her. The silence between us has weight now—like ash in the air, fine and choking if you breathe too deep.

She doesn’t ask me in.

I don’t push.

Instead, I let her stare holes through me.

“You’re quieter than I remember,” she says finally, voice tight.

“I spent a lot of time not talking.”

She raises an eyebrow, just barely. “That new? Or just permanent now?”

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