NOAH
"After being disowned, the desperation is almost sad. Claiming to work for a Wolfe? In a building full of people who actually do? It makes you look delusional, not important. Instead of embarrassing yourself and Dad, you should go wait outside until he's done. Maybe then you can beg for forgiveness. Try to recover something from the wreckage you call a life."
Every word landed. Every single one. Not because I believed him... I knew I wasn't a worm... but because Nick knew exactly where the old bruises were. He was pressing on the damage we shared, the trauma of our upbringing, and doing it with surgical precision.
My eyes stung. Not from weakness, but from the sheer, exhausting weight of still being hurt by someone I should have stopped expecting anything from years ago. I blinked hard, refusing to let a single tear fall. I would not give him that. I would not let him see me bleed.
