Summer's smile slowly faded. Her past was tangled with suffering, betrayal, humiliation, false accusations, and the devastating loss of her daughter. Those were wounds she could never forget.
"Why do you want to hear about it?" she asked quietly.
"Because I should have been there for you," Adrian answered earnestly. "I should have stood by you, protected you. Instead, I left you to face everything alone. It must have been unbearable. I want to know what you went through."
A heavy ache settled in her chest as memories surfaced.
"Yes," she admitted. "It was unbearable. One moment, my life was filled with love and hope. I was looking forward to a future full of happiness. And the next… everything collapsed."
Unshed tears trembled along her lashes. Those cruel remarks, the humiliation, and Gideon's indifference back then still left scars.
