Chapter 128

• Chapter 128: The Weight of Vulnerability
• He takes a deep, shuddering breath, the air filling his lungs like liquid lead as worry moves through his features with the intensity of storm clouds gathering across a previously clear sky. The lines around his eyes deepen as he finds himself consumed by troubling thoughts about the implications of what she must have been thinking—every word she didn't say, every emotion that flickered across her face, everything that could possibly be racing through her mind at this very moment.
• "God, why the hell would I mess up this badly?" he mutters under his breath, the words carrying the weight of genuine self-recrimination. The question loops endlessly through his consciousness like a broken record, each repetition adding another layer of frustration and self-doubt.