Page 116 of Code of Heart

Levi wasn’t listening to reason anymore. He raised his voice, his desperation boiling over into a full-blown scene. Isaac tried to intervene, but Levi shoved him to the side, where he now stood helplessly, wondering if someone could sedate his friend before security had to be called.

Then, like a lightning bolt breaking through storm clouds, Owen burst through the doors, his expression nothing short of homicidal. One of the earlier police officers trailed close behind him, though Isaac doubted even he would have been able to come between his two friends if the situation escalated.

“You,” Owen snarled, jabbing a finger in Levi’s chest, “need to shut it down. Right now.” His voice was a deadly growl. “She can hear you back there—every pathetic word—and you’re sending her into another goddamn panic attack.”

Levi froze, his eyes wide with guilt and panic, his fury instantly abating.

“H-how is she?” he begged. “Please…Can I see her? I just—I need to—”

“Absolutely not,” Owen cut him off, eyes blazing. The force of that refusal nearly knocked Levi back. Isaac held his breath.

“Physically?” Owen’s words dripped with barely leashed fury. “She’ll heal. Her sprained wrist and twisted ankle will be fine in a few weeks. But her ribs?” He shot Levi a pointed glare. “Cracked. It’ll take eight weeks before she can even breathe easy again. And that’s nothing compared to the bruises she’s wearing right now like a second damn skin.”

Isaac paled, his stomach rolling. “Holy shit…” he muttered under his breath.

Owen wasn’t close to being done.

“Emotionally?” His tone dropped to something far more dangerous. “She might never come back from this. She was drugged, Levi, at her own event. Kyle Morris—her abusive ex—escorted her out like it was nothing. Took her to that hotel and assaulted her while she was unconscious.”

Isaac turned a shade greener hearing Owen confirm the truth they suspected. Levi stood frozen, his expression blank, as if the shock hadn’t fully reached him yet.

“He was waiting for her to wake up,” Owen snarled. “Waiting to do even worse. She pretended to be unconscious for an hour, Levi. And when she saw her only chance, she fought back. Cracked his damn skull with a lamp. That woman—you left her. You walked away and left her with a monster!”

Levi crumbled, sinking into a nearby chair, his head buried in his hands.

“I don’t deserve her forgiveness,” he rasped, his voice hollow. “But god, I’m so sorry. I need to see her. To tell her…” His eyes brimmed with tears, his voice breaking apart.

For an instant, Owen stared at him, torn between fury and the painful tug of loyalty and friendship. Levi looked so demolished, so lost, it dulled the sharp edges of his anger.

But some truths couldn’t be softened or easily forgiven.

Owen’s voice dropped, deadly calm. “She doesn’t want to see you, Levi. She doesn’t even want to hear your name right now.”

Levi’s head snapped up, distraught. “What?”

“She asked for your things to be cleared out of her house,” Owen continued quietly, delivering the final blow. “She said you broke your promise when you turned your back on her without listening to or talking to her. And right now…she’s in there with Charles, discussing how to file for divorce.”

With a grim finality, Owen opened his palm. Isaac swore.

In his hand lay two gold and turquoise rings—Aurelia’s engagement ring and wedding band.

Levi stared at them as if they caused him pain just by existing. His hands trembled as he reached out, his fingers closing over the cold metal.

It was over.

It was really over.

And Levi had no one to blame but himself.

He sat motionless, tears slipping unabashedly down his cheeks, every breath a glaring reminder of everything he couldn’t fix.

“She didn’t deserve this,” he choked out after several long minutes, defeated. “And I—I didn’t deserve her. If divorce is what she needs to heal, I’ll give it to her. I’ll give her anything she asks, even if it means losing her forever.”

His fingers curled around the rings like lifelines; his frame wracked with silent sobs as the hours bled into nothing.

At some point, Isaac and Owen sat down beside him, one on each side. No words were exchanged. They simply sat with him in silence, sharing the unbearable weight of everything he had lost.

And in that long, agonizing quiet, Levi mourned.