After everything was settled, Zane returned from work to the empty apartment and collapsed onto the leather sofa.
Clara’s photo sat on the coffee table.
Heed sil
But
at the picture. In the frame, she was smiling gently, her eyes clear and bright.
She looked when they first met.
now, it felt like a lifetime ago, as if he’d only known her love in another life.
He didn
deserve a love that good. Not in this lifetime.
Zane closed his eyes. The pain of losing Clara was only now beginning to truly tear at his heart.
The truth was a razor, slicing through his soul.
He finally understood the meaning of regret.
The door opened. It was Olivia.
She had just come home from school and immediately saw Clara’s picture on the table.
Tears instantly welled in her
eyes.
“Dad, is Mom really dead?” Olivia’s voice trembled.
Zane looked at his daughter’s swollen eyes, his heart twisting in his chest.
“Olivia… yes. Mom is gone.”
“But I never got to tell her I love her!” Olivia sobbed, breaking down completely. “I never got to say I was sorry for what I said!”
Suddenly, Olivia looked up, a furious fire in her eyes.
“But Dad, why didn’t you believe Mom?”
“Mom kept saying something was wrong with Hailey. Why didn’t you listen?”
“Why did you divorce Mom? Why did you let Hailey move into our house?”
“If you had believed Mom, if you had protected her, would she still be alive?”
Every question from his daughter was another twist of the knife in his gut.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Because he had no answers.
He hadn’t believed Clara. He had chosen Hailey.
He had personally pushed Clara toward her death.
“I… I don’t know…” Zane’s voice was choked. “I really don’t know…”
“You don’t know?” Olivia’s voice grew shrill. “You’re a doctor! How could
not
know Hailey
Mom loved you so much. She never lied to you. Why didn’t you believe her?”
What good is saying you don’t know now? Mom is dead! She’s never coming!”
Olivia ran into her room, covering her face, leaving Zane alone in the living room.
was
1/3
Clara, what do I do? he pleaded to the
Meanwhile, Clara’s father and
2 om.
