83. Say that Again, I Dare You

Jacob’s POV

The moment she said those words, it felt as if the world had ground to a halt "I'm leaving, Jacob" Her voice was so quiet, so resigned, that for a moment — a split second — I thought I'd imagined it. But the look in her eyes, the sadness and determination mixed in equal parts, told me that I had not.

My heart pounded in my chest, each beat echoing the betrayal I felt. The woman I loved — the woman I thought I loved — was not only a stranger, but she was also walking out of my life. And the worst part was that she was doing it out of a misguided sense of protection.

I felt a surge of anger, hot and raw, coursing through me. How could she decide what was best for me? How could she simply announce it as a done deal, without even giving me a chance to have a say, to fight for what we had?

But beneath the anger, there was pain. A deep, sharp, gut-wrenching pain that spread through me like a wildfire. The woman I loved,