Page 137 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

But I was already breaking.

Tears burned hot against my skin, spilling down my cheeks and soaking into the hard motel pillow. My breath hitched and stuttered, my chest tight with the pressure of holding too much, of trying too hard to pretend I was okay.

I wanted to stop.

I wanted to gather the broken pieces of myself, to force them back into place, to be strong, to be fine.

But I wasn’t fine. I was drowning.

Kai. Adam. Samuel.

Their names throbbed in my mind like a wound left open.

I should never have let them in. Never let myself believe in them. Never let myself taste the warmth of something I could never keep.

Because now, here I was… alone. Again.

Gasping for air in a cheap motel room, the walls pressing in, the silence deafening.

I squeezed my arms tighter, rocking slightly, trying to soothe the shaking, the panic, the unbearable absence. My body achedfor comfort, for safety, for them. But I had ripped myself away. I had made my choice.

And now, I had to live with it.

I didn’t know how long I lay there, lost in memories, suffocating beneath the weight of grief and fear and regret.

The past had its claws in me. And no matter how far I ran, it always dragged me back under.

I needed to put an end to this once and for all.

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, my pulse hammering so hard it drowned out everything else. My thumb hovered over Owain’s message, the words seared into my mind like a brand.

Sadie. We need to talk.

A cold shudder rippled through me. My chest felt tight, my lungs struggling to pull in enough air. Every instinct screamed at me to ignore it—to shove the phone away, to pretend he wasn’t still lurking in the corners of my life.

But I was done running.

I clenched my jaw, my fingers tightening around the phone as I forced myself to type.

No, we don’t. Stay away from me.

My breath hitched, my heart slamming against my ribs as I hovered over the send button. The weight of a thousand memories threatened to crush me, his voice, his touch, his twisted version of love.

No more.

I hit send.

And then, before doubt could sink its teeth in, before fear could paralyze me, I blocked his number.

The silence that followed was deafening.

I stared at the screen, my reflection faint in the black glass. My chest heaved, my entire body trembling from the aftershocks of something that felt terrifyingly close to freedom.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Adam

Something was wrong.

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