Page 134 of Code of Heart

“She wasn’t perfect…but she didn’t deserve that. And my father? He got away with it. Bought his way out of every repercussion and consequence. Told me I’d be next if I opened my mouth.”

Aurelia’s heart ached for the boy who’d lived through that nightmare.

“I never realized how much that moment shaped me. How every relationship after that felt like the same betrayal. I walked in onevery single oneof them cheating on me. And every time…it brought me right back to that day.”

His eyes found hers again, full of anguish and regret.

“But none of that excuses how I treated you, Auri. You didn’t deserve what happened to you—and youdefinitelydidn’t deserve what I said to you that night.”

He dug his fingers into his scalp, gripping his hair like he needed the pain to keep talking, his whole body coiled with remorse he didn’t know how to carry,

“I judged you through the lens of my trauma. I was a coward who ran away when you needed me the most. And I will regret that for the rest of my life.”

He took a shaky breath.

“I’m not asking for forgiveness—I don’t deserve it. Iamasking for a chance to earn it…to show how much you mean to me. Because I’m done running. From myself. From this. Fromus.”

Aurelia sat there, breathless. Charles’s words again echoed through her mind.

Everyone comes with baggage, Aurelia. But sometimes…it’s the way we carry it that makes all the difference. Don’t let fear choose for you. And don’t shut the door before he’s even had the chance to fight for you.

Hadn’t she done the same thing in the beginning? Physically ran away on their wedding day? Pushed Levi away when fear took hold?

She stilled, taking in every line of Levi’s face, the raw sincerity in his eyes, and the fragile hope that she would let him fight for them.

Right then, Aurelia made the easiest choice of her life.

She would fight too. For herself and for the man who had become her home.

Levi

It was agony waiting for her to react.

Levi had opened up completely—his heart, his regrets, his broken past—and now all he could do was sit there and hope. Hope she wouldn’t turn away. Hope he hadn’t already lost her forever.

Then, at last, she moved.

Her uninjured hand gripped his hand, fingers curling tightly around his. The contact was so sudden, so sure, it stole the air from his lungs. He looked down at their joined hands in disbelief, not daring to hope too much, as his heart thudded painfully against his ribs.

She didn’t say a word…but she didn’t have to. That simple gesture told him everything.It’s a start.

Slowly, cautiously, he lifted his gaze to her face, searching for any sign of hesitation.

He found none, and for the first time in what felt like forever…he let himself breathe.

Closing his eyes, he soaked in the moment. The feel of her hand in his. The faint, familiar, fragrant mix of florals and fruit enveloped him and calmed every frantic thought in his head.

When he opened his eyes again, she was still looking at him. Levi knew he had never seen anything more beautiful.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again, his voice raw.

Aurelia gave him a small, knowing smile.

“There’s plenty of blame to go around,” she whispered back. “Our relationship had cracks in its foundation from the beginning.”

Then, with a soft sigh, she reached up and gently cupped his cheek. Her touch was warm, grounding him.

“I’m absolutely going to make you earn my forgiveness, though,” she added, a wicked sparkle lighting her tired eyes.