Chapter 113

Kelly POV

Susan pulled me into her arms, her warmth wrapping around me in a way that made the ache in my chest feel sharper before it softened. I didn’t fight it. I let myself lean into her, let everything I’d been holding back slip through as my tears soaked into her shoulder.

Her hand moved slowly over my back, steady, grounding.

“You didn’t deserve any of this,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion. “They should have never done this to you.”

I closed my eyes, trying to hold onto that, trying to let it settle somewhere inside me.

I wanted to believe that.

For a while, we stayed like that, neither of us speaking, just holding onto each other while the moment stretched out. Eventually, Susan pulled back, brushing at her own tear-streaked face as