Chapter 198. Rain and Ares

Hermes POV

I thought the worst thing I’d ever done to her was leave.

I was wrong.

I stand in front of June—my woman, my fiancée, the mother of my child—and for the first time in my life, I realize something that makes my chest ache worse than the bullet ever did.

I didn’t just lie to her.

I trained her to doubt her own reality.

Every time she asked what was wrong and I said nothing.

Every time she felt something was off and I kissed it away.

Every time she loved me harder while I was quietly preparing to disappear.

I taught her that her instincts were wrong.

That her fear was imaginary.

That the distance she felt between us wasn’t real.

And now she stands here shaking, pregnant, wounded by my father—

but part of that wound… started with me.

I see it in her eyes.

Not anger.

Not hatred.

Something far worse.

A woman who doesn’t feel safe trusting what she feels.

Beca