Chapter 98 Healing In His Arms

• Rachel POV
• The soft hum of the apartment’s silence wrapped around us, a fragile cocoon that held the world at bay, if only for a moment. I sat on Jeremy’s lap, my legs draped over his, my head resting against his chest, the steady thud of his heartbeat a rhythm that anchored me in the storm of my emotions. His arms encircled me, warm and unyielding, his hands tracing slow, comforting patterns on my back, as if he could soothe away the jagged edges of my pain. The living room was dim, the morning light filtering through the blinds in pale slats, casting gentle shadows across the couch where we sat, Sir Biscuit Von Fluffington snoring softly in his bed nearby. But the weight of Cody’s betrayal—the empty safe, the stolen hopes—pressed against my chest, a wound that bled guilt and self-recrimination.
• “I was such an idiot,” I murmured, my voice muffled against Jeremy’s shirt, my fingers twisting in the fabric, as if I could hold onto something solid, something real. “I believed in Cody, Jeremy. I wanted so badly for him to be… my dad, someone who cared about me, not my money. Everyone warned me—Scarlett, Nick, even you, in your own way—but I ignored it all. I thought I could change him, make him love me. How could I be so stupid?” My voice cracked, tears welling again, hot and relentless, though I’d thought I’d cried them all out in the shower.