Chapter 80. It Has Nothing to Do with Me?

Athena

The sight before me broke my heart in ways I didn’t know were possible. Tristan was staring at me like I had just shattered his entire world, like everything he thought he knew about me had been a lie.

His eyes never left mine, boring into me with an intensity that made my chest tight. I forced myself to break eye contact, looking anywhere but at his face because the pain there was too much to bear.

I didn’t understand why he was staring at me like someone who caught his wife cheating.

He took slow, deliberate steps toward me, but I didn’t move away. Despite everything that had happened between us, despite the anger and hurt I carried, I knew with absolute certainty that Tristan would never physically hurt me. That wasn’t who he was.

Derek tried to step in front of me, positioning himself as a protective barrier between Tristan and me.

But I moved in front of Derek instead, because I could see the dangerous look in Tristan’s eyes as