#Chapter 191: The Letter

ELENA Three days, and I still hadn't put it away. It wasn't that I couldn't decide. It was that I'd already decided, and the decision terrified me. So I kept the letter on the nightstand, like keeping it there meant I hadn't made up my mind yet—like the choice was still unmade, like I could still go back to the woman who didn't need Derek King for anything. I knew the words by heart. I'd read them enough times in the dark, in the kitchen, in the car with the engine off in Moonstone's parking lot—unable to go in, unable to drive away. The paper had gone soft at the creases from being folded and unfolded so many times that the ink was beginning to feather at the edges. Elena, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness. But I would like to earn your trust again. If you are willing, I'm going on a memory walk. I'd be honored if you came. Derek I folded the letter carefully along its creases and set it back on the nightstand. No pressure. No demands. No grand declarations. Just