Page 71 of Pretty Little Trigger

CHAPTER 70

Kaden

Alana never needed saving.

She just needed reminding that she could save herself.

I didn’t pick up her pieces.

I didn’t fix her. All I did was show her where the glue was.

And she did. Piece by fragile piece, she put herself back together.

And the way she did it…

it was breathtaking.

Brutal. Beautiful.

But now?

Now, it’s like she’s breaking all over again.

Tessa was right. I went to Plant today to see her and it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. Watching the woman I love slowly disappear in front of me…

like she’s fading, one breath at a time.

Not shattered—just hollow.

A husk.

I always knew we were living on borrowed time.

Sooner or later, the truth was going to cut through the illusion.

And when it did, she’d see me for what I am.

Not her protector. Not her safe place.

Just the villain in her story.

She doesn’t deserve this.

She needs closure, not because it’ll fix what I broke.

But because she deserves to walk away with her head high and her heart intact.

Closure, so she can close this chapter of her life…

and finally move on.

I don’t want her looking back and wondering.

What we were. Where I went.

Why I didn’t say more.

Why I let her walk away without answers.

I don’t want her stuck in the shadow of something that was never meant to last, trapped in the bitter taste of almost.

I know how much she craves control, how much she keeps her world on a leash no matter how wild it gets.

So I want to give her that.

Not a reason to forgive me.

Just the truth. Clean.

Final.

I want her to be free of me.

No more questions. No more maybes.

No more what ifs.

I’m sitting behind my desk, hunched over a piece of paper.

The pen feels heavier than it should.

Like it knows what I’m about to give up.

This isn’t a confession.

It’s a release. I want her to understand why I disappeared.

Why I wore a name that wasn’t mine.

Why I couldn’t stay, even when I wanted to.

Not to win her back.

Not even to be remembered.

Just so she can leave me behind without carrying the weight of me anymore.