"I'm sorry." The words seemed to cost him, but he said them clearly. "I'm sorry for keeping you in limbo. For testing you endlessly. For using dominance as punishment instead of intimacy. For making you feel like you weren't enough."
"You don't have to...."
"Yes, I do. Because you were right. About everything." He pulled back slightly, his eyes locking onto hers. "I've been torturing us both. And I'm done. I'm done testing you. Done punishing you. Done protecting myself."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I forgive you." His voice was firm, final. "Completely. Fully. For the deception, for the lies, for everything. I forgive you, Aria."
The words hit her like a physical force. She'd been waiting months to hear them, and now that she had....
She broke.
Sobs tore from her throat, and she collapsed against his chest, crying so hard her whole body shook. All the fear, the guilt, the desperate hope she'd been carrying....it all poured out in a flood of tears.
