Page 25 of Shattered Dreams

The words land like a slap.

I blink, trying to make sense of what I just heard. My skin prickles and my ears ring. I search Kieron's face for some cheeky grin, a joke, a trace of sarcasm. But he gazes at me with a sincerity I cannot doubt.

"Kieron...don't."

Because if he says one more word, it all changes.

And I can't handle another shift. My world has already cracked open—my marriage, my sense of self, the future I thought was solid. And now this. Now my best friend—the one person who's never lied to me, never hurt me—is telling me there's a truth I somehow missed. Or ignored. Or didn't want to admit.

I stare out over the lake, my mind spinning.

Was it always there? In the way he looked at me when I laughed too hard at his jokes? Or how he always remembered how I took my coffee? How he hated Roman from the beginning, and I chalked it up to ego?

How blind was I?

I think about every long-distance message, every visit, every hug that lasted just a little too long.

How could I not have seen what this was doing to him?

Or worse—did I see it and pretend I didn't?

Guilt crashes through me, nearly knocking the air from my lungs. I press a hand to my throat.

He's the one person who's never failed me. Yet I'm the one who let him feel this way—silently, helplessly—for years. He never crossed a line. But now that I know...everythingfeels like a line.

"I'm sorry," I whisper pathetically.

What Iwantto say is: I'm sorry for not knowing—for not noticing.

And maybe—justmaybe—sorry for how it makes something inside me shift now, too.

Kieron watches me. "You knew. Deep down."

I shake my head. "I didn’t. You were my best friend."

"I still am." He smiles, sad and real. "But I was also the guy who knew every version of you. Even the ones you didn't show Roman."

My heart twists.

He reaches for my hand again, thumb brushing over my knuckles. This time it feels different; more intimate. "I didn't come here to confuse you, Ava. I just needed you to know you're not broken. You're still you. The best person I've ever known."

I pull in a breath, slow and uneven.

What parallel universe have I slipped into where my husband is a lousy cheater and my best friend is in love with me?

Kieron's face hovers near mine, expression open. His eyes lower briefly, and I feel the shift between us. He's thinking about closing the distance. I don't stop him, not right away.

Being close to someone makes the hollowness in my heart easier to bear. It makes me forget I've spent the last week trying to breathe through pain. That I've felt invisible in the life I built.

Kieron sees the real me—he always has.

It would be easy to let it happen—to believe that being wanted might fix something that’s been unravelling for too long.

But I know what this is.

It's about needing something to hold onto while everything falls apart.

And that's not fair to him.