Chapter 21
Robin and Kane stood frozen, staring at the tightly shut door, completely at a loss.
“Dad, I already apologized. Why won’t she forgive me? Was that contract really that important?
“Did she really have no feelings for us after all these years? How could she let us go so easily?
“Even when I said I hated her, deep down I still loved her. I really do know I was wrong.”
His sobs grew louder. Big, heavy tears splattered onto the ground, falling faster than he could wipe them away.
This time, he was crying for real. He simply couldn’t understand it. Why could Elena be so kind to a little girl she’d only just met, yet treat them like they meant absolutely nothing?
Robin’s fists clenched so tightly at his sides that blood beaded between his fingers and dripped slowly to the ground.
“Maybe… we really did break her heart beyond repair.”
Only now did every illusion he’d told himself finally collapse.
She’d been hurt over and over again. She’d been distrusted more times than he could count. How could she possibly still love them?
Elena was nothing like Constance. Constance only ever wanted money. She would go out of her way to please him as long as he had money.
But Elena? She was someone who valued emotions deeply. She had given them every ounce of her heart, and they had given her nothing in return.
Robin avoided her time and time again. He chose to sleep with Constance and stay by her side rather than be near Elena. He couldn’t bear to see the look in her eyes, to watch the love in them fade from something fierce to something cold and empty.
His heart was always meant for Evangeline, and he convinced himself there was no room for anyone else. So he refused to respond to Elena’s feelings
But the heart wasn’t something you could control. He wasn’t made of stone. 1
Time and again, he found himself falling for Elena too. But his feelings for Evangeline–his obsession, his grief–hung over him like a mountain, pressing down so heavily it stole his
breath.
It was always there, reminding him that he couldn’t fall for someone else. Doing so would be a betrayal of Evangeline.
He treated Constance well, as if to prove he hadn’t betrayed Evangeline. But now, Elena had
Chapter 21
truly let go of him forever. She didn’t love him anymore, and she would never have anything to do with him again.
Yet Robin felt like a gaping hole had opened in his chest, and cold wind was rushing in endlessly. Afterward, Robin and Kane waited outside the guesthouse for three days straight, hoping to catch Elena and finally have a proper conversation.
Eventually, Elena ran out of patience and came out to stop them.
“What exactly do you two want to say? Just say all at once. I’m running a guesthouse
business here, and you’re affecting it.‘
“Alright.” Robin, realizing too late how disruptive they’d been, felt a pang of guilt.
He almost offered to compensate her for the lost business, but he said nothing in the end. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate that kind of offer.
“We’ll talk as we walk,” Elena said impatiently.
Kane looked at her hand hanging loosely at her side and instinctively reached out to hold it. But the moment his fingertips brushed hers, Elena pulled away.
She even frowned and moved to the other side as she said, “Robin, keep your son close. If he wanders off, it’s none of my concern.”
Kane dropped his gaze in disappointment and muttered defiantly, “I’m not gonna get lost. I don’t need you to care! I’ll go wherever I want.”
Still, he stuck close to Elena as they walked like a stubborn piece of gum.
Robin cleared his throat and spoke slowly, “Elena, there have been a lot of misunderstandings between us over the past six years. But they can be explained. We truly cared about you… and we truly did love you…!
