Chapter 37. Maybe It Was Inevitable

2024

Amelia’s POV

The car ride back to the hotel was suffocating.

The sound of rain pattering against the windows filled the silence, but it wasn’t enough to drown out the thoughts inside my head.

I sat rigidly in my seat, my hands folded tightly in my lap, my fingers cold despite the warmth of the car. My reflection in the window was a blurred, distorted version of myself—like someone I barely recognized.

I should have never asked him that question.

The moment the words had left my lips, I had known. I had seen the way his jaw had tensed, how his fingers had curled slightly against his knee, but he hadn’t said a single word. He had just looked at me—steady, unreadable, as if the answer should be obvious.

But it wasn’t.

And now, the silence between us was heavier than it had ever been before.

My chest felt tight, my throat constricted, but I swallowed it all down, keeping my expression cold, my posture stiff.