Chapter 120. Married?

June POV

I watch from the rear window as Hermes’s bike speeds off, the red light fading until it disappears completely. My chest heaves so hard it hurts. God, how stupid could I be? How stupid was I to think Hermes actually felt something other than pity for me?

My reflection glares back at me through the glass — teary eyes, trembling chin, lips pressed into a bitter line. He didn’t love you, June. He pitied you. Every smile, every soft laugh, every story about his past — all pity. The secrets he told me? Pity. The gentle touches, the way he looked at me like I mattered — pity, pity, pity.

My stomach twists. And I thought I was special.

My mouth let out a broken sound, half laugh, half sob. “God, I’m so dumb,” I whisper, pressing my fingers to my mouth. “So stupid.”

When he had raised his voice— when he’d thrown her mother’s death at her like a weapon — something inside me cracked. The one thing I’d trusted him with, the one pain I never shared l