Page 149 of When the Storm Breaks
Her voice is barely a whisper.
“You… you knew. This whole time?”
I open my mouth.
Nothing comes out.
“Say something!” she screams, voice cracking.
Tears stream down her cheeks, but she doesn’t move. Doesn’t even wipe them away.
I swallow hard.
The truth rises like bile—
But it’s all I have left to give.
“It was supposed to be my secret to keep.”
The second I say it, I see something inside her break.
Her face twists—fury and heartbreak colliding—and suddenly, she’s burning. Rage simmers beneath her skin, ready to ignite.
“This whole time,” she breathes, voice shaking.
Her chest rises and falls too fast, fingers digging into her arms like she’s bracing for impact.
“This whole fucking time, Haiyden. You listened to me talk about her. You held me while I cried over her. And you just—what?”
Her voice fractures on the last word, shattering in the space between us.
I watch her hands fall to her sides, twitching like she doesn’t know whether to hit me or just run.
Tears stream down her face, and she barely seems to feel them.
But I do.
It wrecks me.
“You told me youlovedme…”
She shakes her head, stunned. Disgusted. Like she doesn’t even recognize the person standing in front of her.
“How could you even do that to someone?”
She moves like a rubber band snapping—sudden, frantic.
She paces the room, grabbing her clothes with shaking hands,yanking them on like she needs to cover every inch of herself.
Like if she shuts me out physically, maybe it’ll be easier to shut me out completely.
I stand, chest caving in.
There’s an emptiness in me now, widening by the second.
I reach for her—instinct, nothing more—just needing to dosomething.
But the second she sees it, she recoils. Her face twists with disgust.
